Alice Black and the Prisoner of Azkaban
by GailyGail
Summary: When Sirius Black was sent to Azkaban, he left behind him a daughter. Follow Alissa 'Alice' Lyra Black as she enters her first but third year at Hogwarts. Won't be any Romance for a while. T because I wanted to.
1. Chapter 1

**HEYYYY HELLO HELLO! First story... Kinda nervous here... Anywayyy I just hope you'll all like it! I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to the books, but you know that right? DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW OR I'LL KICK YOUR ARSES! (Or not)**

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October 31st 1981

"Sirius, she's just too adorable!" Lily Potter said, swooning over Sirius Black's one year old daughter, Alissa 'Alice' Lyra Black. Sirius smiled proudly at his little baby.

"Of course she is. She is from me you know! He said.

"And from Victoria too! She carried her for nine months Padfoot." James Potter said walking in the room with his one year old son, Harry James Potter. "You're a bit too full of yourself if you ask me."

"Says the bloke who named his son after himself!" Sirius smirked.

"Enough you two!" Lily cut in. She placed Alissa in the crib next to her son and the two children automatically began gabble to each other in some weird language that they only seemed to understand. James grinned at the two children.

"They better be best friends!" He said looking at Sirius, who in turn nodded furiously.

"And maybe they'll fall in love and marry someday..." Lily said dreamingly.

"Yeah... But not too soon I hope!" Sirius said, a flow of overprotectivness going through him.

"It's a shame that Victoria couldn't come today, It was my last chance to see her before we go in hiding." Lily said saddly.

"I know, but she really wasn't feeling well... And what happed to Frank and Alice really affected her..." Sirius said, a grim look on his face. They all stood together, recalling with pained faces at the what the Longbottoms were going through, but then Alissa suddenly burst out laughing. The three adults just sat there looking, at the two laughing children, but when the clock struck midnight Sirius stood up.

"I better go now, I don't like the idea of Tori staying home alone." He said. Sirius then leaned down the take his daughter from the crib." Come here my little Princess."

"Well see you mate, it was great talking to you again." James said. He ruffled Alissa's hair. "Bye bye Alice, take care, and watch that father of your. Keep him out of trouble for us." Lily kissed Alissa's head and hugged Sirius.

"Tell Victoria I said hi." She said.

"Sure, will do Lily!" Sirius said walking out of the door. He then vanished into air with a small 'Crack'. James just stood there, watching where once stood his best friend and his goddaughter.

"You'll see them again." Lily whispered kissing his cheek. She didn't know how wrong she was.

Sirius appeared in the little flat he had bought for his family. There was no way his little Princess was going to grow up in Grimmault Place, where that horrible old hag lived. No one knew they were living there, well apart from Peter, their secret keeper.

"Tori it's us!" He called.

No response.

"Victoria?" He called again.

Again, no response.

He rushed over to their room. No one. He ran with Alissa in his arms to the little nursery they had built. What he saw made him scream. In a puddle of blood laid Victoria. The love of his life. His Victoria, his wife.

Sirius checked for any sign of life she could have left in her body, but she wasn't breathing. Alissa began to cry, not understanding why her Mummy wasn't getting up, or why her Daddy was sobbing beside her. Father and daughter cried for hours until Sirius finally got up. He couldn't leave the body of his love lying there.

Sirius owled the Ministry. He was going to see Lily and James. He had to warn them about Peter, that he traitor. He took Alice in his arms and kissed her on the forehead.

"Daddy loves you Princess, Daddy has to go now but he'll be back, I promise." He told her. Sirius hugged her to him once more before throwing floopowder into the fireplace and sending Alisa to Remus's flat. For the last time, Sirius looked back at Victoria, and with a painful feeling welling up inside his chest, Sirius ran out to his bike and headed to the Potters.

O-o-O

Remus Lupin heard a loud noise in the fireplace and then a baby crying. He rushed to the living room to find little baby Alissa sitting in the chimney.

"Alice?" He asked, his voice cracking. He took her in his arms as a tear ran down his eye. Something terrible had happened. Sirius wouldn't have sent his daughter by floo if something bad hadn't happened, and never all alone. But sending Alice alone also meant that Sirius expected him to stay with her, to protect her from any danger that could have caused him to send her. So Remus owled Dumbledore about what had happened.

Dumbledore would know what to do. He Conjured a crib for Alice to sleep in. After Alissa had calmed down, he placed her gently in her crib and went to sleep, not knowing that it would take twelve years before he would see his best friend again.

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**This chapter has been edited.**

_GailyGail_


	2. Chapter 2

**Heyyy! I'm baaack! A new chapter ALREADY! As always, I do not own Harry Potter and all the stuff related to it! I wish I did. ON WITH THE STORY**

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September 1st 1993

"Hermione, keep that ugly brute away from Scabbers, do you hear me? He's scaring him!" Ron Weasley shot her what was clearly a warning look, cradling his pocket where Scabbers was hiding from the ginger feline.

"Crookshanks is most certainly not an ugly brute Ronald! He just wants to play a bit." Hermione Granger shot back. Harry Potter sighed and kept looking around for an empty compartment. He gazed sadly as the trolley lady passed them by. He would have really enjoyed a chocolate frog or two right about then. Harry turned back around to face his two best friends.

"Hey guys, could cut it out a bit, we aren't even there yet and you're already biting each others heads off!" That said, Harry turned around only to collide with a solid wall. Or rather a solid person. They both fell down onto the isle floor but the other figure quickly got up, brushed themselves off, and lent Harry a outstretched hand.

"I am so sorry! I wasn't looking at where I was going!" The other figure quickly pulled him up off the floor. Harry looked up to see a girl staring over worriedly at him.

She had long, thick, curly dark brown hair and storm cloud grey eyes. Her skin was relatively pale with freckles spread across the bridge of her nose and dotting her cheeks. But what struck Harry the most was how familiar she seemed to him.

"It's okay, I guess wasn't looking around that much either." He smiled and she smiled back before her mouth curved into a slight frown.

"Um... I don't suppose you've seen the Lady with the snack trolley by any chance have you?" She looked at him hopefully.

"Ya, she just passed by us before I ran into you, it went that way." Harry said, turning around and pointing over to the end of the hallway.

"Thanks!" She said before hurrying away from them, down the hall, and out of sight. Hermione and Ron, who had recently stopped fighting, joined Harry as the three third years watched her leave.

"Well I've never seen her here before." Hermione stated, looking slightly puzzled.

"Well, maybe she's a first year." Ron suggested, looking, unlike Hermione, not in the least bit worried over the mystery girl.

"But she looks as old as us; maybe she's a transfer student?" Harry asked. Looking down the hall where they had last seen her.

"But Hogwarts never accepted any transfer student!" Hermione exclaimed.

"How would you know? You've only been a student for two years!" Argued Ron as the three went back to searching for an compartment.

"Stop it, both of you." Harry sighed. "Here, this is the emptiest compartment that we'll find by now." Harry said. The compartment in question contained only one passenger, a man who seemed to be fast asleep. Which was very odd considering only students were supposed to ride on the Hogwarts Express.

"Who do you two think he is?" Ron asked.

"Professor R.J Lupin."

"How do you know?" Ron looked dumbfounded. "How come she knows everything?"

"It's written on his trunk, Ronald." She pointed over at the trunk in question.

"Oh." Hermione watched in satisfaction as Ron's ears turned a bright red.

"Do you think he's sleeping?" Harry asked, glancing over at the man.

"Probably. Looks like it at least." Hermione said, looking over as well.

"Good, 'cause I've got something to tell you." Harry said closing the compartment door.

"–So you're saying Black's after you?" Ron asked, dumbfounded.

"Yeah, after what your father told me, I'm pretty sure." Harry said.

"Well, I hope he won't get to you." Hermione said.

"Are you nuts? Of course he won't get to him! Hogwarts's like, the safest place in the world!" Ron almost screamed. Hermione was about to respond when the door suddenly opened. All three recognized the girl from the hallway, but she apparently didn't noticed them. She closed the compartment door with her foot, arms were full of chocolate frogs.

"Alright you chocolate addict, I got ALL of your sweets so– Oh." She said, noticing them for the first time. They all stared at each other.

"Hi." The girl finally said.

"Hi." They chorused.

"Uh... I was um... Sitting here so..." She started. Looking extremely uncomfortable.

"Oh! We're so sorry! We didn't know! We thought this was a free compartment." Hermione said.

"We'll, I don't mind sharing with you guys." She sat down in front of the sleeping man and sighed as she looked at him before muttered something that Harry couldn't catch. From the looks on Hermione and Ron's faces, neither did they.

"I'm Hermione. This is Harry and this is Ronald." Hermione said trying to start a conversation.

"Actually, it's Ron." He said this half-heartedly, as if he had had this conversation before.

"I'm Alissa." She smiled and they all shook hands. There was an awkward pause, each trying to decide what to say next.

"Um, nice shirt." Ron said bluntly, obviously trying to break the tension. Harry looked over at it. It was a plain white T-shirt with the word Brat written on it. Ron was right, it did look nice on her.

"Thank you, this man over there actually gave it to me." She pointed to the sleeping figure in front of her.

"Is he related to you?" Harry asked, speaking up for the first time since Alissa had walked in.

"No. He sort of my guardian or something. When I wasn't staying over with my grandparents, I would go over with him instead." Harry understood exactly what she was getting at. Her parents couldn't take care of her either. Hermione gave her a friendly smile but Ron just looked lost.

"Why aren't you with your parents?"

"Ron!" Hermione gasped.

"It's fine." Alissa smiled. "My mother passed away when I was just a baby and my father can't take care of me right now." They all stayed silent. That is, until Hermione spoke up.

"Your accent's a bit different. Where are you from?"

"Oh, well you see, I was born here in Britain but then I went to live with my grandparents in Russia, after that I went to Beauxbatons in France but I would always come spend my summers back here in Great Britain. Then I decided to come here for the rest of my schooling. I guess that my accent is a mix of French, Russian and English." As she spoke, Harry started to notice her accent as well.

"What year are you going to be in?" Hermione said.

"Third year."

"Oh us too! I hope you'll be in Gryffindor! I could use more company in the dorm! Lavender and Parvati aren't really the most friendly of girls." Hermione's eyes were shining with hope. Alissa just smiled, but it didn't quite reached her eyes. Instead it looked a bit forced. Out of nowhere the train jerked back and everything went dark.

"We can't be there already!" Hermione said.

"It looks like their letting someone on the train." Alissa whispered. The train jerked back again.

"Bloody Hell! What's happening to this thing!" Ron yelled, way louder then what was needed at the moment.

There was a pause before the compartment door slowly begain to slide open, all on its own. A tall hooded figured appeared at the entrance to the compartment. It was wearing it's hood over its face so only it's mouth could be seen, that is if you could actually call it a mouth, it seemed like more a black hole, letting out a strange breathing sound at every breath it took. Everyone stiffened at it glided towards Harry.

It made a strange gasping sound as the creature slowly began to suck something in from the air around it and a object coming from Harry was sucked into it's gapping mouth.

The last thing that he remembered before blacking out was the sound of screaming, a woman screaming.

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**DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!**

**This chapter has been edited.**

_GailyGail_


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey hey heyyyy! .god THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEWS! YOU GUYS ARE SO NICE! As a reward, I updated a new chapter! Thank you thank thank you again! Okay, I do NOT own Harry Potter or anything and you know it. THANK YOU AGAIN!**

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"Harry... Harry... Harry, wake up!" Harry suddenly sat up at someone yelling his name.

"Mmmh?"

"Oh thank god you're okay!" Hermione shrieked and pulled him into a tight hug. Harry looked up to see Ron watching him worriedly. Alissa was sitting close to the wall, her legs folded against her torso. The sleeping man from before was now awake, he smiled at him kindly.

"What happened? The last thing I remember is passing out." They all smiled at him. Alissa stayed quiet, staring at the wall opposite to her.

"That was a Dementor, they are the guardians of Azkaban."

"Then why aren't they at Azkaban? What were they doing here?" It was a good question.

"Searching for Black, after you passed out, he used a weird spell and told them that no one was hiding Black under their cloaks." Ron said, gesturing to the men. Alissa tensed up a bit as Ron spoke of Black. But then again, so did Hermione, he was a mass murderer on the loose after all. The man took out something of his pocket and handed a bit of it to everyone. It was brown and smelled sweet. Harry just stared at it.

"Don't worry, it's just chocolate. I didn't poison it. Eat some, you'll feel better." Harry took a small bite and instantly felt warmth flood throughout his body. The man got up and Alissa quickly followed his lead.

"Make sure to finish it all." He said. "Now if you'll all excuse me, I've got to tell something to the driver." Alice got up quickly.

"I'll go with you Dyadya!" And like that, they were gone.

"Dyadya?" Harry asked, perplexed.

"She called him something like that before you woke up too, maybe it's a nickname she uses for him?" Hermione said.

"Oh. Er... Have any of you fainted too?" Both his friends shook there heads.

"No. But when they came near me, I felt like I was never going to be happy again. Like someone had removed all the joy and happiness from the world and all that was left was sadness, it was horrible." Ron shivered as he spoke, and Hermione nodded in agreement also looking very disturbed.

"For a minute I thought Alissa was going to faint too. She became so tense I think she might have stopped breathing for a minute or two." Hermione also suppressed a slight shiver. They spent the rest of the trainride in silence. Hermione kept looking out the compartment door's window, probably to see if Alissa was coming back. She didn't.

As they walked through the doors of the great hall a drawling voice made Harry ball up his fists together.

"Potter! Potter! You fainted? I mean, you actually fainted?" Draco Malfoy yelled, making sure everyone around him heard it.

"Just ignore him Harry." Hermione lead them away, narrowly avoiding a fight. They all sat down with the rest of Gryffendor as Harry looked over the Slytherin table. Right on cue, Malfoy and his goons all started to imitate Harry fainting.

As the sorting began and the number of first year reduced, they noticed Alissa standing a bit taller than the others. Soon she was standing there all alone and Dumbledore stood up and began his usual annual speech.

"Welcome!" said Dumbledore. "As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the Dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business. They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds," Dumbledore continued, "and while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave school without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises — or even Invisibility Cloaks," he added blandly, and the three friends looked at each other guiltily. "It is not in the nature of a Dementor to understand pleading, mercy, or excuses. I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the prefects, and our new Head Boy and Girl, to make sure that no student runs afoul of the Dementors," He continued and Harry noticed that Percy looked around the hall very proudly, shining his new Head boy badge. "On a happier note," he continued, "I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year. He paused, smilling at the students.

"First, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." Harry, Hermione and Rom clapped loudly but they seemed to be the only ones. The rest of the clapping seemed cold an distant. Lupin looked a bit mismatched wearing his shabby clothes. The other professors were all dressed in their best robes, making him look even more ridiculous. But the other students hadn't witnessed what they had. He wasn't a man to underestimate.

"Secondly, I am sorry to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs. However, I am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than our own Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his gamekeeping duties." The whole Hall exploded in applause, the Gryffindor table being the loudest of the four tables. The Slytherins however did not clap, which was to be expected.

Hagrid beamed from his seat and Harry couldn't be happier for him. Hagrid had always loved animals, it was only fair for him to be the new Care of Magical Creatures Professor. He more then deserved it.

Dumbledore sent a warm smile towards Alissa but Harry couldn't see what her reaction was since she was facing away from him.

"Also a first for Hogwarts, we will be greeting a new student this year. Now don't let prejudice get the best of you and please welcome our new student and fellow classmate, Alissa Black!" He announced. The Hall was so silent you could hear a quill drop. Everyone watched Alissa with either wide eyes disbelief or mouth wide astonishment. Some managed to do both.

Harry couldn't believe it. Black? As in Sirius Black, who killed twelve muggle and a wizard? And worst of all, who killed his own wife? Was this some kind of a joke? But now that he thought of it, she did resemble her father. Maybe that was why she looked familiar. Sirius Black's picture had been put up everywhere since his escape, even the muggles knew about him. Harry suddenly regretted having been so nice to her.

They all watched in silence as Alissa walked to the stool, the sound of her steps echoing through the dead silence in the Great hall. As she sat down on the stool McGonagall put the Sorting Hat on her head. After a minute or two, the Sorting Hat had made its decision.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

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**Hee hee hope you'll like it!**

**By the way, "Dyadya" or "дядя" as we write it in Russian means "Uncle", Russian people use it when they are in the need to call someone that is unrelated to them, I think it's the equivalent for Mr for Americans and British.**

**Thanks for reading and supporting me! REVIEW PLEASE!**

**This chapter has been edited.**

_GailyGail_


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey! A new chapter! I'm feeling so productive and it is all thanks to YOU! Thank you for all the reviews!**

**"Ali" : You learned Russian?! That's so cool! I'm currently trying to teach myself. It's a bit hard but I think I get better week after week!**

**Anyway, I do not own Harry Potter, J.K Rowling does!**

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Unlike when someone was normally sorted, not a single student clapped. The students were just too shocked.

A small smirk appeared on Alissa's face as she looked into the faces of her housemates. She had expected that kind of reaction.

The professor's table was the only place in the entire Hall to applause. McGonnagle took the hat off Alissa's head. The students were still not clapping.

People stared at her as she walked to the end of the table, hate and distrust showing clearly. It was the least crowded spot but students still scooted as far away they could from her. No one wanted to be next to a murderers daughter.

She sat down and looked back at Dumbledore, who was smiling at her. He was the only one.

"Well, Let the feast begin!" As he said these words, mountains of food appeared in front of them, everyone started filling their golden plates. As the students began to eat their eyes never left Alissa. They were either whispering about her or just glaring. Some people near by started making some extremely rude comments about her, fully aware that she could hear every word. Alissa just filled her plate and ignored them. But no matter how she tried to hide how she felt, Harry could clearly see how she was gripping her fork much more tightly than necessary. Suddenly she looked up to the teachers table and locked eyes with Lupin. They both looked at each other before each went back to eating. Harry couldn't help but feel a bit jealous. Her father was a horrible man but she still had a nice guardian, his parents hadn't done anything to deserve their fate but he got stuck with the Dursleys. He watched her a bit more and turned back to Ron and Hermione.

"She sure got us fooled." He said. "Pretending to be nice and all."

"I'm surprised she wasn't sent to Slytherin, the Blacks all went there." Ron said between two bites of chicken. Hermione just stayed silent. Harry could see she was disapointed, she had hopped for a new friend. She didn't got along with Lavender and Parvati much at all. Gradually, the students stopped staring at Alissa and everyone went to their usual back to school talk.

After everyone was finished the plates emptied themselves and Dumbledore wished a goodnight to everyone. Students quickly left the hall, each in turn shooting Alissa one last glare incase she missed all the others. Harry,Ron and Hermione walked out of the hall and saw Alissa looking around her a bit lost. She looked at the other students, trying to find one from Gryffindor. She spotted the twins and followed them. Harry heard Fred, or George speak up to George, or Fred.

"Fred, I think we are followed." He said, so it was George.

"I think so too Georgie." Behind them, Alissa stoped in her tracks.

"Fine then! I'll just go find it myself!" She pushed pass the other students before realizing she had turned the wrong way at the end of the hall. A couple of seconds later they saw her come back and turn the right way. The twins both shared matching grins.

"Wonder how long it'll take her to find the common room." Ron said. When they reached the common room, the Fat Lady was showing off her "amazing" signing voice. It took a while but she finally let them enter their common room. fifteen minutes later, Alissa passed through the portrait hole. The whole room became quiet, as if someone had just announced a death. She just stood there, watching all of them before walking towards the stairs that led to the girl's dormitory.

Just before she began to go up, Lavender Brown blocked her way.

"Gryffindor are goodhearted but they're not stupid. You don't belong here and you're definitely not wanted either Black, don't expect us to be all friendly just because you made it into our house..." It didn't look like she was trying to intimidate Alissa, her speech sounded more like a warning, but a harsh one.

"Like I need arrogant idiots like you to be my friends. I can manage on my own." She walked away from the red faced girl and Harry could have sworn Alissa had looked right at him, Ron and Hermione while saying this. Alissa turned her heels and climbed the stairs leaving the whole room either gaping open mouthed at the nerve of her statement, or glaring at her retreating back. No one saw her for the rest of the night.

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**Okay, I am not very satisfied with this chapter but please, REVIEW!**

** This chapter has been edited.**

****_GailyGail_


	5. Chapter 5

**HEY! New chapter, YEAHHHHH. THANKS TO ALL MY REVIEWERS! I do not own anything, J.K.R does.**

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The classes didn't start the next day, the only free day before the classes officially started. A fact many students were extremely grateful for. Since they all went to bed late at the night or early in the morning, depending on how you saw it, and they all enjoyed sleeping in. When Harry woke up, he found that the others were still fast asleep in their beds. Looking at the clock, he decided that he and Ron had had enough sleep. Hermione was probably already waiting for them and wondering if she should come up to wake the boys herself. After waking up Ron, in other words throwing everybody's pillow at his head while immitating Mrs. Weasley's voice telling him to get his lazy bum out of the covers and into his cloths, both boys got dressed and met Hermione downstairs.

"I swear, you too are like pigs! You sleep way too much for your own good!" She scolded has they exited the common room.

"We are growing boys!" Ron defended as Hermione just rolled her eyes. They ate breakfast with Hermione still scolding about their lifestyle. Ron just answered back to her and Harry decided he should stay out of it. As they went to Hagrid's hut to congratulate him on his teaching position,their conversation turned from their sleeping habits to what most of the school was probably talking about, Alissa Black.

"I bet people already started picking on her!" Ron said.

"It's not funny Ron! She left before anyone woke up and she put padlocks on all of her bags!"

"Hermione, why are you defending her? She's a mass murderer's daughter!" Ron was looking at her like she was a total stranger.

"Who said she was like him? If you two boys would just give her a chance!"

"Who said she wasn't? We give her a chance and we could end up with our throats slit one morning!" Harry continued to watch Hagrid's house as they approached it, trying his best to block out the increasingly ugly argument. Suddenly, it's door violently opened on it's own. A very excited Fang came out running like crazy towards the black lake. Then, just behind him, came Alissa Black. She yelled something behind her shoulder before sprinting out towards Fang. They reached the Black Lake and Fang, still excited, jumped in the water, splashing everything around him, Alissa being one of those things.

"Fang!" He came out of the water and shook himself dry, throwing water all over her. She picked up a stray branch and threw it towards the forbidden forrest. Fang ran to get it and Alissa calmy walked to the spot where he was.

"You're right Ron, she really looks dangerous and violent." Hermione mocked. Ron just grumbled something under his breath. Harry couldn't help but agree with Hermione. Alissa didn't look aggressive or crazy like Sirius Black looked in the pictures from the Daily Prophet.

They knocked on Hagrid's door and waited for him to respond.

"Alice? Yeh back already? I though yeh– "He started opening the door but he saw they weren't 'Alice'. "Oh it's yeh three!" Hagrid smiled.

"Hi Hagrid!" They said walking in.

"What brings yeh lot 'ere?" He asked giving them teacups the size of soup bowls.

"We just wanted to congratulate you for getting the job as the Professor for Care Of Magical Creature." Harry said. Hagrid beamed and Harry was sure that under his beard, he was blushing.

"Oh yeh didn't 'ave to!" Despite the protest, Hagrid was clearely proud and flattered as well. As a 'reward' he gave them homemade cookies, hard as rocks.

"Four students in one day! I thought that people wouldn't take me seriously! that they would think me class is just a joke!" Hagrid said, both happy and relieved.

"Four?" Hermione asked.

"Alissa came just before yeh three, a brave kid she is. Shame who 'er father is but I knew 'er mothe', lovely woman." Hagrid said. The three of them just stayed silent.

"She talked about yeh, yeh know? I 'eard yeh were all nice to 'er, a good thing yeh too!" Hagrid said sensing the slight tension. What he said didn't help at all. They just looked at each other, each waiting for the others to say something. No one did.

None of them wanted to tell Hagrid how they had ignored her once they knew who she was.

The door opened and a smiling Alissa entered, Fang right at her heels. She looked around and saw Harry, Ron and Hermione. Her smile dropped instantly and her eyes turned stone cold. She was a mess. Her denim shorts were all muddy and her cropped gray t-shit was soaking wet. Only the pendant she was wearing was spotless.

"Merlin Alice! What 'appened to yeh?"

"Forbidden forest, Black Lake and Fang." She said smiling a bit. Hagrid just laughed and patted Fang on the back.

"Yeh crazy dog!" He chuckled before looking at Alissa again.

"Fancy a cup of tea?" He asked.

"Oh, um I can't... I have too meet... Lupin! Yeah he invited me for tea." She said with what was a obvious lie. Hagrid didn't seem to catch it.

"See ya' next time then!"

"Yeah, See yah!" She left quickly. A little too quickly.

"It's because of us." Hermione whispered.

"So, ya had a good summer?"

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**Thank you, Thank you. Okay I am quite proud of this chapter. okay whatever. REVIEW PLEASE!**

**This chapter has been edited.**

_GailyGail_


	6. Chapter 6

**OMG I REACHED 10 REVIEWS! THANK YOUUUUUUUU. I didn't update for a couple of days 'cause I had a BLOCK. And a party to attend. Anyway I'm okay now so I wrote like crazy last night so I could update today. AS USUAL, I DO NOT OWN HP OR ANYTHING!**

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"Oh look! We're starting with a new subject today!" Hermione was Pointing to her schedule with much more enthusiasm then the two boys were feeling. Harry looked down on his schedule. It said: 9 am: Divination. Harry and Ron had only taken Divination because Fred and George had specifically told them that as far as Hogwarts goes, it was the easiest subject of them all, tied together with Care of Magical Creatures.

"Uh, Hermione, I think your schedule is messed up." Ron pointed at the piece of paper she was holding up in her right hand. "See, right under Divination, it's written Muggle Studies and Arithmancy. Not even you have enough time to attend all these classes, there isn't enough time in the day!" Hermione pulled the sheet away from Ron's curious gaze and blocked his view.

"If you must know, I've worked something out with Professor McGonagall, so if you would mind your own business.

"But–" and that is how yet another pointless argument started.

Harry chewed on his eggs and tuned them out. He glance over at where the students were entering the Great Hall for breakfast. Out of the crowd of students making there way through the doors came Alissa Black and the whole room stopped what they were doing and instantly fell silent. Stares and glares from every table followed her every step as she made her way over to the exact same spot as the night before, and like the night before, she ignored them all. Alissa began to eat but was quickly interrupted as Professor McGonagall walked over from the high table and gave her the class schedule while pointing at the paper and explaining about what was on it. After making sure she understood the classes, MaGonagall gave her a small smile, a feet almost no one managed to achieve, and walked away. Harry frowned at his plate, he had never seen McGonagall smile like that to a student. Now that he thought about it, a lot of teachers really seem to like Alissa. Hagrid spoke about her like he had known her forever. But then again that is Hagrid. He likes pretty much everyone. McGonagall on the other hand...

The distraction of Alissa had unfortunately allowed a break in his concentration which, unfortunately, allowed the vocal argument between his two best friends to rush back into focus.

"Wonder how the teachers can actually like her." Hermione shot Ron a look.

"Because, she's not evil! We should all follow their example and be nice to her. Don't you think the girl has enough to deal with without the entire school hating her guts?" Hermione sighed like it was the most obvious thing on earth. Ron just rolled his eyes and went back to his breakfast.

"Then, go ahead. Go talk to her Hermione. Be our guest. See if she's nice!" Hermione glared at him and looked back at Alissa. For a moment, Harry thought she was really going to do it but she didn't move. Ron smirked and gave a triumphant look in Harry's direction. It didn't last long.

"I'm not going alone. You two are going with me." The two boys stared at her in disbelief. Hermione stared back, completely unfazed. "We have to show her that she is not completely alone and if I go by myself there is no way she will take me seriously! Harry, Ron, you HAVE to come with me!"

"But she is completely alone Hermione, if people wanted to befriend her they would already have talked to her. I know she isn't like her father, she proved that part to us on the train, but have you listened to what she said to Lavender saturday night? She doesn't want friends." Harry had thought about her little speech the day before and had came up with the conclusion that she really didn't want to socialize. It seemed logical from his point anyway.

"Plus, did you see how she looked at us when we were at Hagrid's? She doesn't even want to come near us." Hermione stayed silent but after a moment, looked over with sadly in the young Black's direction and answered.

"Harry, Ron, the least we can do is try to be nice to her". She looked like she actually cared! The boys stared at her like she had just proposed joining You-know-who himself. "–Not be friends with her, just show that we don't hate her or anything!" She added quickly seeing their expressions and not wanting them to back out so quickly.

"I guess...we could try to..." Harry looked at Alissa and found her staring over at them from her seat farther down the table. She quickly looked away, her black hair falling in front her face at a angle so Harry couldn't read her facial expression or the blush that was slowly creeping into her face. He was brought back to the conversation at hand when Hermione grabbed her bag and stood.

"Divination's at the top of the North Tower, it's gonna take us at least ten minutes to go there so we had better start walking if we don't want Flinch to catch us in the halls late." Harry turned his gaze back on Alissa one more time. He knew she could feel him looking at her but she stubbornly stared at her plate, refusing to so much as send a seconds glance back at him.

They reached the top of North Tower around fifteen minutes later, panting like they had ran a marathon. They had met along Sir Cadogan, a painting of a stupid knight on a grey pony. After debating on which way was the right direction to get to class, they discovered the trap door. Feeling slightly foolish the three friends climes into the room above.

The class was very strange, even for what they were used to, curtains closed with no desks or seats, only poufs. Mismatched rugs were sprawled haphazardly across the floor and all the lamps were rapped by shawls and scarves, the whole room smelled highly perfumed and made you feel sleepy the moment you entered. Combined with the odd objects placed on the countless shelves the room created a creepy atmosphere over the entire place. But if they thought the room was strange, that was nothing compared to Professor Trelawney herself. Her enormous thick lensed glasses covered in green emeralds gave her eyes the look of a insect and looked about the size of a fist. She wore a what seemed to be a dozen giant necklaces and Harry counted at least fifteen bracelets on each wrist. All in all she reminded him of a gaint

praying mantis.

Trelawnley spoke in a 'mysterious' voice every time she said something to the class making her seem even less credible then the first impression the kids had already gotten from her.

They had started to read tea leaves and Neville already had broken one of his cups when the trapdoor swung open loudly on it's hinge making everyone jump in there seats.

"–Sir Cadogan wishes you a good day my fair lady. Don't cry, we shall see each other again my love!"

"Oh shut up you idiot!" Almost instatly, Alissa Black's head appeared in the door hole. Once she was fully in the room and had brushed herself off, she noticed the whole class was looking at her, again.

"Uh... I had trouble finding the class..." She said, looking at Trelawney who was looking right back at her, her eyes filled with fear. Trelawney let out a high pitched "okay" and Alissa just looked around to see where she could sit. Almost instantly, Hermione sat up. All the students were paired up at small tables and since Harry and Ron had paired up almost instantly, Hermione was left sitting alone at the table next to them. The only other empty seats besides the one next to the bushy haired witch were at an empty table near the door. Alissa walked to the empty table, while pretending not to notice the seat next to Hermione.

"Told you." Ron whispered to her. Hermione shot Ron a look and sat down with a disappointed look on her face.

"Um... Dear?" Trelawney asked in a squeaky voice flinching as Alissa's head snaped up, "It would be better if you sat with someone." She stuttered. Right now, she remembered Harry of Professor Quirrel. She must be one of the few teachers in the school who seemed to not like Alissa.

"Fine." She sat down in front of Hermione who smiled at her but Alissa didn't smile back, she just took out her book and opened it at the page requested. Trelawney cleared her throat and began the class. They started out reading their partner's tea leaves. Most of the students began the lesson serious but ended up joking about the predictions since none of them made a lot of sense. Only Lavender and Parvati seemed to take it with any real seriousness. Harry snorted at what Ron was telling him as Trelawney approached their table. She took Harry's cup out of Ron's hands and rotated it. By that time, everybody was watching her silently. This was the most interesting thing all class besides Neville smashing his tea cup and Alissa entering class. Trelawney Squinted behind her glasses as she looked into the teacup in her hands.

"The falcon... You have a deadly enemy." She whispered.

"Everybody knows that Professor." Hermione pointed out making every eye in the room turn on her. Hermione didn't seem to notice and just kept speaking in a irritated tone. "Everybody knows, about Harry and You-know-who. That not a prediction, it's just stating a fact." Harry and Ron stared at her, eyes wide in shock. Hermione had never spoken like that to a teacher before. What had gotten into her?

Trelawney frowned at her before going back to the cup as if she hadn't spoken at all.

"The club...an attack..."

"I thought it was a bowler hat!" Ron said sheepishly.

"The skull... Danger in your path... My poor boy..." She said looking at him with pity. She turned the cup again and than screamed.

"What is it Professor? What did you see?" Lavender Nearly ran over to see what happened. Trelawney was just watching Harry, tears in her eyes, shaking violently.

"My boy... My dear boy... Y-you have t-the Grim!" She said this as if it was the scariest thing in the world. Some people gasped but Harry just wasn't catching on

"The what?" Harry looked over at Ron, Dumbfounded. He just srugged.

"The grin? What's the grin?" Seamus was trying to see from the back of the gathering crowd. Out of nowhere Alissa snorted making everybody look around confused, no one understanding what she was laughing about. Tears were shining clearly in her eyes as Alissa clutched her sides. Hermione too was trying to hide her laughter.

"Not the grin you idiot, the Grim!" Parvati snapped at him, looking irritated at the ignorance of her fellow housemate.

"The Grim, my dear, the Grim!" cried Professor Trelawney, who looked shocked that Harry hadn't understood. "The giant, spectral dog that haunts churchyards! My dear boy, it is an omen...the worst omen...of death!" Hermione got up from her seat and Alissa almost fell down from hers, still shaking with silent laughter. Hermione approached the cup.

"It doesn't really look like the Grim actually." She said flatly. Trelawney stared at her.

"My dear girl, when you entered this classroom, I've got to say that I sensed very little of aura around you...Very little receptivity to the resonances of the future."

"It does look like the Grim if you look at it this way..." Dean began, his eyes almost shut."But it looks more like a donkey that way..." He continued leaning to the left. Alissa fell off her seat, startling Neville who then broke his second tea cup.

"Tell me when you're all done deciding if I'm going to die or not!" Half the class that wasn't serious about divination burst out of laughter at Harry's statement. Professor Trelawnley quickly tried to regain her composure before addressing the class.

"I think we will leave the lesson here for today. Please pack away your things..."

"Chert vozʹmi, my stomach freaking hurts." Harry heard Alissa whisper. The class packed their books, many laughing at the ridiculousness of the lesson to there friends in the process. Twelawney sank down into her seat slowly, not upset in the slightest about students making fun of her course.

Though most students viewed it as a joke, others, mostly Lavender and Parvati, were whispering furiously, glancing and pointing at Harry as if at any second he would drop dead on the floor. It was ridiculous really.

As they left class Harry thought back to the black dog in the alley that appeared after he had ran away from the Dursleys. Could that dog had anything to do with the Grim? Things were not looking good.

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**SOOOOOO? How was it? Good I hope! PLEASE REVIEW MY DEARS!**

**By the way, Chert vozʹmi or Черт возьми means 'Damn it' in Russian.**

**This chapter has been edited.**_  
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_GailyGail_


	7. Chapter 7

**Hiyaaaaaaaa how's it goin'? New chapter yayyyy! BY THE WAY THANK YOU FOR ALL THE REVIEWS! You guys make me so happy I want to cry. OK I DO NOT OWN HP OR ANYTHING! (No surprises) ENJOY WHILE YOU CAN! (Dafuq?)**

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Harry, Ron and Hermione arrived just in time for Transfiguration class. Most of the students were already seated and Harry made a mental note to walk faster next time and get better seats. He noted that Lavender and Parvati were whispering like crazy while throwing furtive glances back in his direction. Would they ever stop?

Hermione abruptly walked to a pair of desks and sat down, dragging Ron with along her. Harry followed them but saw that the seat behind Hermione and beside the one he was about to sit on was occupied by none other than Alissa. Sneaky Hermione, probably had this all planned. As if on cue, she looked at him stubbornly and pointed the seat beside Alissa. 'Sit' she mouthed to him. Alissa was scribbling on a piece of paper and didn't notice him so Harry cleared his throat, making her look up and raise her eye brow at him.

"Yes?" She asked coldly.

"I was wondering if I could sit here?" He asked, trying to be as polite as possible to her. From the corner of his eye he could see Hermione beaming while Ron just rolled his eyes and pretended to gag.

"You may." Alissa responded after giving Hermione a weird look. They both heard loud gasps and saw Lavender and Parvati looking at them, shocked, before going back to whispering among themselves. Alissa rolled her eyes and huffed. She went back to her scribbling and Professor McGonagall cleared her throat. Harry barely heard a word of what McGonagall was telling them as his attention was turned at what Alissa was doing. It looked like she was writting a letter in some weird language. Harry frowned and then it came back to him, She had told them she had Russian family so she was probably writing in Russian. She noticed him reading over her shoulder and quickly stuffed the letter beneath her textbook.

"Can I help you?" She whispered, a bit harshly. Harry shook his head, his cheeks reddening. He rubbed the back of his head in embarassement and directed his attention back on McGonagall to avoid the girl's accusing gaze only to see her turning into a cat and then back to normal.

"What is it with you all today?" She asked. "Not that it matters but I usually get applaused after transforming." Everybody looked at Harry but stayed silent. Hermione raised her hand, but surprisingly, it was Alissa who spoke up.

"Professor, we just came back from Divination." She said. Everybody looked at her, some of them hearing her talk for the first time ever. Most looking at her as if they didn't expect the daughter of murderer Sirius Black even capable of speech.

"Ah, of course. There is nothing more to say Miss Black. Tell me, who is going to die this year?" Alissa smirked and Harry raised his hand slowly..

"Me." professor McGonagall shook her head.

"Then you should know, Potter, that Sybill Trelawney has predicted the death of one student a year since she arrived at this school. None of them has died yet. Seeing death omens is her favorite way of greeting a new class. If it were not for the fact that I never speak ill of my colleagues —" Professor McGonagall broke off, and took a deep breath. She went on, more calmly, "Divination is one of the most imprecise branches of magic. I shall not conceal from you that I have very little patience with it. True Seers are very rare, and Professor Trelawney..." She stopped again, and then said, in a very matter-of-fact tone, "You look in excellent health to me, Potter, so you will excuse me if I don't let you off homework today. I assure you that if you die, you will not be required to hand it in." Alissa snorted and Hermione laughed. Harry felt a bit better. Not everyone was convinced, however. Ron still looked worried, and Lavender whispered something about Trelawney predicting that Neville was going to break his cups, which he did. The class ended, students packed their books and began to exit the classroom. When they reached the Great Hall for lunch, Harry had told Hermione and Ron about the black dog he had seen, which led his two friends to yet another argument. He ate in silence and found himself staring at Alissa again. She had brought her letter to lunch and was eating while finishing it, occasionally wiping off a crumb here and there as it fell onto the white piece of parchment.

Something flashed in Harry's mind as he remembered when he was in primary school, when he was the one sitting alone during lunch, minding his own business. He remembered how he laid awake at night just wondering how it would feel to have friends, to fit in. He then decided something, he decided that he wasn't going to let Alissa suffer like he did.

Just as he made that decision, Alissa looked up and the two third years locked eyes. Harry stared and then snapped back to reality. He tried to smile at her but she just rolled her eyes and looked away before he had time to do anything of the sort. Harry was going to have a lot of work on his plate with this.

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**THANKS FOR READING! Do NOT forget to review!**

**This chapter has been edited.**

_GailyGail_


	8. Chapter 8

**Heyyyy! OH MY EFFING GOD I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCHHHHHH! TWENTY REVIEWS! I just can't believe it. You are all so cool, like REALLY COOL! Thank you thank you thank youuu! As usual I don't own Harry Potter only the OCs are mine!**

**Ali: I noticed too! Also Ginny is funnier in the books than she is in the movies, such a shame.**

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The Care of Magical Creatures class took place outside of the castle. Most of the students were happy about it but none was happy as Harry was, the tension between Ron and Hermione was so thick he couldn't stand it. Fresh air, that's what Harry needed. By the time they were outside, the two friends had started a new argument, Ron kept saying that Crookshanks wanted to eat Scabbers and Hermione always retorded that he was just a kitten and that all he wanted to do was play. Harry finally snapped at both of them to stop fighting. Their argument was not over but at least they kept their thoughts to themselves. They were near Hagrid's hit and Ron and Hermione were still not talking to each other. Harry was just walking silently next to them enjoying the silence while it was there. He looked at the pack of students who were already there and recognized two heads out of the pack. Alissa and Malfoy. That meant that they were going to take the lesson with the Slytherins. How great. Malfoy approached Alissa and put his arm around her shoulder. He began to talk to her, probably saying something stupid, Harry thought. Alissa and Malfoy burst out laughing but she suddenly hit him hard on the head with her book, getting out of his embrace. Some of the students said 'Oooh!', some of them laughed and the others, mostly Slytherins glared at her. Hagrid just stood there in his 'best' suit, a fur overcoat that strangly looked just like Hagrid's hair, messy. He looked very impatient to begin, but also very nervous.

"All right, everyone 'ere? Got a great lesson today! Follow me!" He said walking towards the forest. For a fraction of seconds, Harry was sure Hagrid was going to give his lesson in the Forbidden Forest. For a fraction of seconds, Harry thought that he was going to have to face Aragog again and from the pained look on Ron's face, he could tell he had been thinking the same thing. Happily, Hagrid stoped in a clearing in the front of the forest, they could still see the castle. Hagrid turned aroung and beamed at them.

"Now, ye're all going to 'ave to open yer books to page–" he began but Malfoy interuped him.

"How?" He asked

"Pardon?" Hagrid asked doumbfounded.

"How to we open our books?" Malfoy clarified rolling his eyes.

"Wha? H-Hasn' anyone bin able to open 'em during the summer?" Hagrid asked, his face looking crestfallen. The class fell silent.

"Well, yeh just 'ave to stroke 'em" He said like it was very obvious. "Stroke 'em on the back."BHagrid took Hermione's book and stroke it before it had the time to bite him. The book shivered and opened itself.

"How silly we all have been! We just had to stroke it!" Malfoy sneered.

"Shut up." Harry said. Malfoy's first comment had already stressed out Hagrid, he didn't want the whole lesson to fail.

"I thought yeh might find 'em funny..." Hagrid mumbled.

"Oh yeah! Terribly funny! Really witty, giving us books thy wants to eat us!" Malfoy mocked. Harry turned around and flared at him but his vision was obstructed by somebody else who had stepped up to face Malfoy.

"Does your face wants to meet my book again or does it to get to know my fist first?" Alissa growled, her face very near Malfoy's. In the back, they heard Dean Thomas whistle. Malfoy whimpered and dashed far away from her.

"Zanudnyy" She muttered under her breath. Russian. Again. Suddenly, Lavender squealed, it was so high pitched Harry thought he had lost his hearing for a second or two.

"Look!" She squealed again, pointing at the paddock in the back of the clearing. They all did so. Trotting toward them were a dozen of the most bizarre creatures Harry had ever seen. They had the bodies, hind legs, and tails of horses, but the front legs, wings, and heads of what seemed to be giant eagles, with cruel, steel-colored beaks and large, brilliantly, orange eyes. The talons on their front legs were half a foot long and deadly looking. Each of the beasts had a thick leather collar around its neck, which was attached to a long chain, and the ends of all of these were held in the vast hands of Hagrid, who came jogging into the paddock behind the creatures.

"Hagrid!?" Ron asked, his voice shaking. "What are those?"

"Those Ron, are Hippogriffs!" Hagrid answered proudly. He then took one, a greyish feathered one, by it's leach and pulled it towards the students.

"Now," He said "Who wants to say 'ello to Buckbeack?" Everyone took a couple of steps back but Harry, who was in the front row stayed in place, oblivious to everyone's change of place.

"Harry! Good come 'ere!" Hagrid cheered. Harry quickly glanced around him and saw that it looked like he had stepped in front of everyone. Ron gave him a light push and Harry began to walk towards Buckbeak.

"Now, yeh've got to know that Hippogriffs are very proud so greet 'im properly." Hagrid told him. Harry looked at Hagrid a bit lost, how in the world was he supposed to greet a Hippogriff?

"Well come on, bow!" Hagrid said. Harry bowed to Buck amd waited for a response. Buck bowed back and Hagrid clapped.

"Great! Great! Now yeh can pat him!" He announced. Harry approached Buck and began to pat him on the head. The whole class began to clap and Hagrid couldn't look happier.

"Very good Harry! Very good! Now yeh can take a ride on his back!" He said while lifting him by the waist and setting him on the Hippogriff's back despite Harry's protests. He unleached Buck and hit his back, making the creature run. It ran around the paddock and then deployed it's wings. It flew up and up, so up the students seemed like ants from Harry's view. It flew a bit around the forest and then it came down. Everyone seemed impressed except for the slytherins, especially Malfoy and his goons. Hagrid helped Harry get down Buck's back and then leaned over at him.

"'ow am I doing for my first lesson?" He whispered.

"Brilliant, professor." Harry smiled. Hagrid beamed but hid smile fell as Malfoy made his way towards Buck.

"Yeah, you're not that dangerous you ugly big brute!" He said cockily However, he lost his arrogance as Buck got on his back legs and started flapping his wings violently. The students all started to scream.

"Malfoy!" Hagrid screamed rushing towards him but it was too late, one of Buck's claws hit Malfoy's arm, making him fall back.

"Calm down! Calm down Buck!" Hagrid yelled. He then turned to face malfoy, who was on the ground whimpering loudly.

"It's nothin'! Just a little scratch!" Hagrid said trying to calm down the students but Harry didn't think it was just a small scratch, blood was begining to appear on Malfoy's shirt.

"Hagrid! You need to take him to the infirmary!" Hermione said.

"I know, I know I'm in charge!" Hagrid said swinging Malfoy over his shoulder and running over to the castle. The class just stayed there in shock, talking furiously and Pansy Parkinson was sobbing for her 'boyfriend' on Milicent Bulstrode's shoulder.

"Silly Buckbeak, you should've aimed for the head..." Harry heard someone whisper. He turned around to see Alissa patting Buck on the neck. She saw him looking at her and gave a small smile which he returned. Harry went back to Ron and Hermione who weren't fighting for once but kept glancing back at Alissa for the rest of the class.

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**THANK YOU FOR READING AND REVIEWING! CONTINUE TO DO DO PLEASE! (Especially the reviewing hehhehe) **

**zanudnyy (занудный) means 'wimp' in Russian.**

**Before I forget, I have a Polyvore account where I posted what Alissa's outfits would look like (I FREAKING LOVE CLOTHES). Please tell me if you're interested to see them and I'll tell you how to find my 'creations' in the next chapter.**

**HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TO YOU ALL! And I hope those who are single like me on this day won't feel too lonely...**

_GailyGail_


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey hey hey! I haven't uploaded for a while. SORRYYYYY! Here's a new chapter, but first I want to thank Serenity10116 who is very sweet! THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! **

**Ali: I totally agree, and in the movie, we just learn tht Harry suddenly likes Ginny but it is not explained why or how he came to like her, there is so much more information in the book and I was so angry they didn't use it in the movie!**

**As always, I do NOT own anything except for my OCs!**

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Malfoy continued to fake pain until late thursday morning, when Madam Pomfrey threw him out of the infirmary. Although his injury wasn't serious at all, he had managed to get the nurse wrap his arm in bandage. Harry, Ron and Hermione listened with disgust as he explained how his wound hurt to some Slytherin girls, while playing the one who is brave in his pain. They all rolled their eyes at his pathetic act and Snape came in. He hushed the class and began to call roll. At some point, he arrived to the name 'Black'.

"Black, Alissa." He called and Harry noted the disgust in his voice, the same tone Snape took when he spoke to him.

"Heeeere!" Alissa half sang, half said. There was a pause and Snape just glared at her while she just leaned back on her chair, shooting him a cheshire grin. The whole class stayed silent, in fact each time Alissa said or did anything, this was usually the others' reaction, when Alissa spoke again.

"Missed me much Professor?" She asked cockily.

"Not at all, now if you would please stop trying to attract attention, I would like to get on with the roll call Miss Black." Snape responded coldly. Alissa pouted like a little puppy.

"Aww shame! 'Cause I sure missed you Sevy!" She said winking at him.

"Detention, Miss Black. Eight o' clock, tonight." He announced.

"It's a date!" Alissa cheered.

"For the rest of the week." Snape continued. Alissa cursed and Snape continued to call roll. They were learning to make a new potion that class, the shrinking solution. Harry noticed that she was in a better mood than at breakfast, like usual she hadn't spoken to anyone but normally, it was because she was ignoring them, this morning she looked a bit upset and almost afraid to make eye contact with anyone. Ron ended up cutting Malfoy's ingredients and since he wasn't cutting them properly, Snape made him give his to Malfoy. Snape just wandered around looking, more like criticizing the Gryffindor's potions. Everything was going smoothly, for a Potion lesson at least, when Malfoy leaned over to Harry. He began to taunt them about Hagrid and even admitted openly that his cast was kept just too add evidences against Hagrid. Snape was yelling at Neville because his potion was orange when Seamus and Dean walked up to Harry. They asked for his brass scales but didn't leave afterwards.

"Have you read the Daily Prophet this morning? They reckon Sirius Black's been sighted" he told Harry and Ron glancing at Alissa.

'So that's why she was upset...' Harry thought to himself.

"Where?" Ron asked.

"Not too far from here..." Dean said "It was a Muggle who saw him. OF course, she didn't really understand. The Muggles think he's just an ordinary criminal, don't they? So she phoned the Muggle Police. By the time the Ministry of Magic got there, he was gone. Vanished".Harry made a face, was Black approaching Hogwarts, waiting for him to get out of the castle and jump on him to kill him? Seeing his face, Dean and Seamus looked at each other a bit this, Ron did something very tactful, which he didn't do often.

"D'you think he's trying to get to see his daughter?" He asked and Harry mentally thanked him for saving him from Dean and Seamus' imminent questions.

"Maybe..." Seamus said looking at Alissa suspiciously. Harry thought for a moment, it made sense, maybe Sirius Black was coming to Hogwarts to kill him but also to see his daughter. After all, he had probably not seen her since his arrest. Sirius Black had now a new reason to come to Hogwarts. This wasn't good. As they left Potion, heading for Defense against the Dark Arts, Ron and Hermione started a little argument about her making Gryffindor loose five points for helping Neville in Potion.

"Why didn't you lie? Why didn't you tell Snape that Neville did it on his own?" Ron asked but no response came back. They looked around and Hermione wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"Where did she go?" Ron asked dumbfounded. "She was right behind us!"

"There she comes." Harry said pointing at Hermione who was running towards them, coming from a corridor that they didn't normally use to exit the dungeons. Hermione did that a lot, she sometimes disappeared and then just came back from nowhere pretending that it was normal. As she ran, she was tucking something in her robes, not looking where she was going. She almost ran into four people when she finally reached them.

"Where have you been?" Harry asked.

"Oh I had... Forgotten... My books... In Potions..." She panted. They both shot her a look.

"Oh look! We're going to be late for class come on!" She said trying to change the subject. Se began to run again and collided with someone... Alissa. Although, Harry suspected that Hermione had done it on purpose, trying to have a reason to talk to her.

"Oops! Sorry I wasn't looking where I was going!" Hermione said.

"It's alright." Alissa said picking up her books that had fallen down.

"Let us help you!" Hermione said looking intently at Ron and Harry. They both sighed a bit and picked up Alissa's book. When all of her books were back into her bag, Alissa smiled to Hermione.

"Thanks." She said. A group of girls passed beside them and began to make loud comments.

"Did you see her? She looks just like her father!"

"I heard she got kicked out of her old school because she was violent!"

"I bet she helped him escape!"

"She's probably just waiting for him to come to take her away!" Alissa's smile dropped, so did her bit her lip and sighed. She looked up ay them, without making eye contact.

"Erm... I have to go now...thanks again." She mumbled already walking away.

"Wait!" Harry called, surprising not only Ron and Hermione but also himself. "We're going to the same class, why don't you walk with us?" Many emotions could be read in Alissa's eyes, happiness, gratitude, relief, hope. Her smile came back to her face.

"I'd like too." She said. Hermione beamed and linked her arm with Alissa's and started to walk away with Harry and Ron following. Alissa looked surprised but then caught up, laughing a bit, with Hermione who was almost dragging her.

"Come on! We're going to be late!" Hermione said.

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**SOOOO? Was it good? Was it bad? PLEASE! REVIEW MY DEARS, REVIEW! **

**Okay, last chapter I talked about my polyvore account and all that stuff, only two reviewers said that they were interested to see them. It's not much BUT, I'm still gonna tell you how to find them.**

**Go on (well duh). My username is HolyCrapShitCrap and in my description it is written: Hippies don't urinate, they peace. Yes, I know incredibly funny... My very mature friend was with me when I created my account and insisted that I wrote his little joke. Anyway, click on 'sets' And then find the third set, which is labelled '3' ( a very creative name I must add) and the ensemble that you will find would be the one Alissa had in Chapter 2. The fifth set, which is called '5' (I really have A LOT of inspiration don't I?) would be the one from chapter 5.**

**REVIEWREVIEWREVIEWREVIEWREVI EWREVIEWREVIEWREVIEWREVIEW!**

_GailyGail_


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello! First of all, I AM SO SORRY FOR NOT UPLOADING! I JUST FELT REALLY SLUGGISH AND WROTE REALLY SLOWLY! I'll try to be more productive this week! I would like to thank Siena McGonagall Dumbledore who checked my story before uploading it! Thank you thank you thank you! I do NOOOOOT own Harry Potter (what a shame, really)! **

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They arrived in class a bit before the bell rang. Hermione, her arm still linked with Alissa's, dragged her to the desks in the front of the class. Harry suspected that she had done it so everyone could see that they were now friends. And it worked, people stared at them, Lavender and Parvati looked at them disapprovingly but Hermione didn't seen to care at all. Harry and Ron just sat down and shrugged at Seamus who was sending them a confused look.

"They're really silly." Hermione stated. Alissa bit her lip and looked at her. Hermione gave her a wide smile and took her hands in her.

"I want you to know that we're really sorry! It was stupid of us to judge you like that!" She said seriously.

"It's okay, I'm used to it." Alissa said.

"Let's be friends. From now on, you'll hang out with us and always sit with us!" Hermione said.

"O-okay, let's be friends." Alissa chuckled.

"Great, now that it's settled, have you done the charms homework?" Hermione asked "I did five inches supplementary since there's so much to say, but do you think–" And a little conversation started. Harry watched them talk and Ron whispered something to him.

"Do you think it's a good idea we let her be our friends?" He asked.

"Yeah... I think so." Harry said. He kept looking at Alissa until Professor Lupin entered, wearing his shabby clothes. Alissa caught Harry's eyes and smiled. He smiled back not noticing the small tug in his chest. Lupin smiled warmly at the class and Harry noticed he looked a bit healthier than when he had first seen him. Perhaps Hogwarts's delicious meals had helped him restore his soundness. Alissa leaned over to Hermione a whispered something and they both giggled. It was a bit surprising since Hermione didn't giggle. Harry ha seen her laugh before but not giggle. Giggling was more Parvati and Lavender's department. Lupin shushed them but not before beaming at Ron, Harry and Hermione.

"Put back your books everyone, today's going to be a practical lesson, you'll only need your wands." He said. Everybody looked at each other excited but a bit scared, the last time they had a practical lesson, it was with Lockhart a definitely not a good memory.

"What do you suppose we're going to do?" Ron asked as Lupin led them towards an empty classroom.

"No idea" Harry shrugged.

"What do you think?" Hermione asked facing Alissa.

"Oh, I promised Dyadya I wouldn't tell anyone, but trust me, this is going to be fun!" She smiled.

"I can't believe he told you! Do you know about all the future lessons?" Hermione asked unhappy. Alissa nodded proudly and Hermione muttered something about unfairness.

"What the bloody hell is a 'Dyadya'?" Ron asked to Harry.

"Oh it's what I call him... It's the equivalent of... Uh... Oh yeah, Uncle or something." Alissa said, searching for her words.

"Oh." Ron said.

"Do you have trouble with english?" Harry asked, people didn't hesitate like she did normally.

"Well, to be honest, a bit. French is easy and I was raised in russian. I liked coming here in the summer but I still spoke russian to Dyadya... I just didn't want to mess up and make a fool of myself." She laughed. "And if you speak really really fast, I won't understand half of what you're saying..."

"Then you're not meant to be pals with Lavender and Parvati!" Ron said.

"If you have trouble, just ask me!" Hermione pressed.

"But don't ask Ron, he'll just confuse you even more!" Harry joked and they all laughed, except Ron who just shoved Harry playfully.

"Shove it Harry." He mumbled, a small smile playing on his lips. They all fell into a comfortable silence, and Lupin opened the door of the empty classroom for them to enter it. The room was full of mismatched chairs all empty except for one, where Professor Snape was sitting. He sneered at the students as they filled the classroom. When everyone was there, and Lupin had barely closed the door, Snape spoke up.

"I'd leave it open if I were you, Lupin." He said, "With Longbottom in this class, who knows what could happen? Accidents happens so fast." Neville went bright red and Alissa muttered something under her breath. Harry couldn't understand a word from it but he knew it wasn't respectful at all. Not that he minded anyway, Snape was an old git who bullied people who didn't do anything to him. Whatever she had said, he deserved it. Lupin looked a bit surprised by Snape's statement.

"Actually, I was hoping that Neville would assist me today." He said looking at Neville, "And I am sure he'll do it admirably." Neville smiled a bit confused, no teacher had ever stood up for him or even went as far as saying that he was about to do something admirably. The rest of the Gryffindors seemed to suddenly like Lupin a bit more. Snape juste glared at him and left the classroom, his robes floating behind him. Lupin walked to the back of the class and took out a sheet from on top of an old wardrobe. The wardrobe began to shake violently and everyone took a step back.

"Do not be scared, it's not dangerous." He smiled. "Now, can any of you tell me what's in there?"

"It's a Boggart!" Dean said.

"Very good Dean, who can tell me what are Boggarts?" They are shape-shifters," Hermione said. "They can take the shape of whatever they thinks will frighten us most."

"Very good Hermione, I couldn't have put it better myself," said Lupin, making Hermione beam at him.

"So the Boggart sitting in the wardrobe has not chosen a form. He does not know what will frighten the person on the other side of the door. Nobody knows what a Boggart looks like when he is alone, but when I let him out, he will immediately become whatever each of us most fears." Lupin said, as if it was a good thing. When no one said anything, he spoke again.

"This means that we have a huge advantage over the Boggart before we begin." He said Have you spotted it, Harry?"

"Erm… Because there are so many of us, it won't know what shape it should be?"

"Exactly." Lupin said. "It's always best to have company when you're dealing with a Boggart. He becomes confused. Which should he become, a headless corpse or a flesh-eating slug? I once saw a Boggart make that very mistake It tried to frighten two people at once and turned himself into half a slug. Not very frightening no?" He said and the students shyly laughed.

"There is a way to repel a a Boggart, and it's with laughter. What you need to do is force it to assume a shape that you find amusing and say the spell that will provide the Boggart from scarring you. We will practise it right now but without your wands. Now, repeat after me, Riddikulus!"

"Riddikulus!" said the class together.

"Very good. This is when I will need your help Neville." Lupin said motioning Neville to come over.

"Right, Neville," said Professor Lupin. "First things first, what would you say that scares you the most?"

"P-Professor Snape." Neville stuttered. Nearly everyone laughed. Even Neville grinned apologetically. Professor Lupin, however, looked thoughtful.

"Professor Snape...hmmm...Neville, I believe you live with your grandmother?"

"Yes," said Neville nervously. "But I don't want the Boggart to turn into her either!" He added making everyone laugh.

"If the Boggart turned into my grandmother I think I would jump from the Astronomy tower." Alissa whispered and Ron snorted.

"You haven't met my mum!" He said.

"Don't worry" said Professor Lupin, now smiling. "Now, can you imagine the clothes your grandmother usually wears.

"She has a red handbag and–" Neville started but Lupin interrupted him.

"No need to say it out loud, as long as you see them, we'll see them." He said. "Now, I want you to..." He said but no one caught the rest of his sentence since he had whispered it. Neville nodded and Lupin unlocked the wardrobe's doors. Slowly, Professor Snape came out, ready to yell at Neville but just before he had the time to open his mouth, Neville cried out "Ridikulus!" As soon as he said it, Snape's black robes turned into a green dress with a fox scarf. A big red handbag appeared in his hands and a moth-eaten vulture hat appeared on Snape's head. The students burst out laughing, and Harry, for once, wished that Collin Crivey was here with his camera.

"In line everyone!" Lupin cried. Everyone seemed pretty excited to face the Boggart except for Alissa who walked next to Lupin. Harry shot her a questioning look but she just shrugged and mouthed to him "I'll just watch."

"Parvati!" Lupin anounced and she stepped forward. There was a crack, and Snape turned into a bloodstained, bandaged mummy; its sightless face was turned to Parvati and it began to walk toward her very slowly, dragging its feet, its stiff arms rising.

"Riddikulus!" cried Parvati. The mummy entangled itself in it's bandages and fell face on the floor.

"Seamus!" roared Professor Lupin. Seamus tool Parvati's place and Crack! Where the mummy changed into a woman with floorlength black hair and a skeletal, green-tinged face... It was a banshee. She opened her mouth wide and an unearthly sound filled the room, a long, wailing shriek that made the hair on Harry's head stand on end, not that it wasn't already since Harry's hair was known to have a mind of it's own.

"Riddikulus!" shouted Seamus. The banshee made a rasping noise and clutched her throat; her voice was gone and Crack! The banshee turned into a rat. Harry noticed That Alissa had suddenly tensed up and had taken a couple of steps back. The rat chased its tail in a circle, and...Crack! It became a rattlesnake, which slithered and writhed before ...Crack!...becoming a single, bloody eyeball.

"It's confused!" shouted Lupin happily. "Go on Dean!" Dean stood in front of the eyeball. And Crack! The eyeball became a severed hand, which flipped over and began to creep along the floor like a crab.

"Riddikulus!" Dean yelled pointing his wand at it. Snap! The hand was trapped in a mousetrap.

"Excellent! Ron, you next!" Ron walked forward, a bit unsure and...Crack! Quite a few people screamed, mostly girls. A giant spider, six feet tall and covered in hair, was clicking its pincers menacingly. Ron rose his wand with a trembling arm and shouted "Riddikulus!" Roller blades appeared at the end of the spider's legs and the spider fell in it's abdomen, unable to move. Harry's turn came and the class fell silent, everyone seemed to expect Voldemort to appear and from the look on Lupin's face, he did too. It took a while before the Boggart changed it's form when... Crack! The students all began to scream as a Dementor appeared.

"Here!" Lupin screamed pushing Harry aside. The Dementor turned into a white orb. The orb then turned into a balloon who flew all around the class, deflating. The wardrobe door opened again and the balloon flew in. Lupin locked the door.

"Well, that's it for today everyone! You all did a great job!" He announced and the students groaned. Only a few had faced the Boggart but everyone wanted a turn.

"Five points for everyone who defeated the Boggart and for Harry, Hermione an Dean!" Lupin added.

"But I haven't done anything!" Harry said.

"You answered a question correctly!" Lupin answered. "You will all do me a summary on Boggarts for Monday morning!" The students all left the classroom talking excitedly but Harry didn't feel that cheerful. Why didn't Lupin let him face the Boggart? Wa he afraid Harry would faint? Ron and Hermione caught up with him and Ron patted him in the back.

"I wished I faced it!" Hermione said." I wonder what my biggest fear is!"

"Probably you failing an exam." Ron said. Hermione just ignored his comment and looked around.

"Hey, where's Alissa?" She asked.

"I thought she was with you?" Harry said. Just as he said that, Alissa ran to them.

"Hey! Sorry I had to tell Dyadya something!" She said.

"Whatever! I'm hungry let's go eat!" Ron said. They all chuckled and walked to the Great Hall.

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**I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Review! I know I told some of you that their friendship would only start a bit later but guess what, I LIED! Okay maybe not. While I was writing this chapter and the way I ended the last one, I figured it would be bet if they started to be friends right now. Also, someone has requested that I make Alice a flyer and I must say that I am very tempted to do so. I'm just not sure if she sould start flying in the next chapter or if I should make her fly only in her next years, I had fifth year in mind. Please tell me what you think I should do! PLEASE REVIEW!**

_GailyGail_

**Have I mentioned to REVIEW?**


	11. Chapter 11

**Yoyoyoyoyoyoyoyo everyone alright? Good 'cause I'm not. I just got my tragus pierced and let me tell you something, IT FUCKING HURTS UGGGGGGHHHH! I did it two hours ago and I feel like my ear is dying. The guy at the store said it was normal but DAMN GOD I AM GOING TO CRY! While he was piercing it I freaking heard the "crunch" my cartilage made when the earing passed through it.**

**Ok I'm done complaining now. I do not own Harry Potter, if I did, Voldemort would have gotten his tragus pierced in every chapters HAHAHAHHAHAHA! Shut up.**

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The next days passed quickly and before they knew it, October had already arrived and Alissa had officially incorporated their little group. People still stared, whispered and gossiped about her and the fact that Alissa Black was now friends with Harry Potter was almost worsening things. It sometimes bothered Harry since, when you got to know her, Alissa was simply hilarious. He didn't get how people could actually hate someone as nice as her. Alissa didn't seem to care one bit, she was just happy to have friends. She had told them that back in Russia and back in France, people were harsh with her but she still managed to get plenty of friends. She said that she had been a bit taken aback by the coldness of people in Great Britain and Harry had suddenly felt very ashamed of his country. Hermione was probably the most happy of them all, she and Alissa had became very close, always whispering and giggling together. Although those two were now practically best friends, it didn't prevent her from being great friends with Ron, they always had the funniest yet the most random conversations. The relationship she had with Harry was a bit weird, Harry sometimes felt like he had known her for ages, seeing some of her reactions gave him a feeling of déjà vu. It was weird since he had only known her for a couple if weeks. After a while, Harry just brushed it off thinking it was just a sign that they were meant to be friends. Despite this happy new friendship, Harry had something else in mind right now: the Quidditch season was soon beginning. Oliver Wood, the team's Keeper and Captain had scheduled a meeting to discuss their new tactics for the year and also, to introduce them their new Chaser. Alicia Spinnet had told Oliver at the beginning of the year that she needed to focus of her N.E.W.T.S if she wanted to be a Healer and would be now unable to keep up with all of the Quidditch practises.

"So I held secret tryouts the other morning and found us a new Chaser!" Oliver said pacing in front of the team, minus the new Chaser in question. "And I must say that she is bloody fantastic on a broom."

"Oh so it's a she eh?" Fred said.

"A pretty one?" George asked wiggling his eyebrows.

"We are here to flirt! We are here to win to house cup! It is our last chance– my last chance to win it, I will be gone next year and I want to win it no matter what!" Oliver said seriously.

"And were is she exactly?" Angelina asked.

"She's coming. But about that... You might all get a bit surprised by who I chose but–" Oliver began.

"Sorry I'm late, the uniform fitting took longer than expected!" A voice said. They all turned around and Harry couldn't believe it. It was Alissa. She was their new Chaser!

"Alissa!" Harry exclaimed.

"And she flies!" The twins said together.

"Her? You chose her?" Angelina said dumbfounded.

"What's wrong with me?" Alissa asked putting her hands on her hips.

"Nothing's wrong with anyone as long as we win that bloody house cup!" Oliver said loudly. "Put your differences aside and go get your brooms! The training starts now!" Angelina grumbled under her breath and Katie shot an unsure look at Alissa. The twins were reciting a poem in Alissa's honor and Harry was just too dumbfounded to say anything. Alissa had never mentioned Quidditch and here she was, playing Chaser! But Oliver said she was good and Merlin knows he has high standards! And like that, Harry found himself walking to the Quiddditch pitch with his new teammate and friend, their brooms swung on their shoulders. Ron was not going to believe it.

* * *

Harry stood in front of the girl's locker room still amazed by what he had just seen. When Oliver had said that Alissa was 'bloody fantastic on a broom', he hadn't been lying. Alissa looked like she had been born on a broomstick, it was as simple as that. Harry had caught himself more than once staring as she gracefully flew around the pitch while they were doing their usual laps. She had left the whole team taken aback after the practise, they expected her to be good, but not _that _good! After a few minutes of waiting, Alissa finally came out of the locker room and smiled sheepishly at Harry.

"You owe me an explanation, young lady." He said taking McGonagall's usual tone when she was about to punish someone.

"Would it be best if I called my lawyer Mr. Potter?" she joked.

"I'm serious, where did you learn to fly like that?" He asked. "Why didn't you tell us you were so good at that?"

"I rode my first broom before I was even one year old! And my Grandfather always took me with him when I lived in Russia. When I arrived at Beauxbatons, I joined the Quidditch team and practised a lot!" She explained as the walked to Castle. "As for not telling you, well I didn't want you to think I was a show off or anything..."

"You're not a show off." Harry assured her. They walker in silence for a bit and Harry spoke up.

"I'm really happy you got on the team, I think everyone thinks so too. Angelina is just a bit stubborn but she'll get used to you." He said.

"I hope so, she seems very nice..." Alissa said. She then grinned at Harry. "And if she doesn't, It'll be her loss! She'll never get to be friends with someone as awesome as me!"

"Alice Black, you are way too full of yourself!" Harry said.

"Hey! I thought you said I weren't!" She exclaimed.

"I take it back then!" Harry laughed. Alissa's laughter died and she looked at him curiously.

"Wait, what did you call me?" She asked and Harry felt his face grow warm.

"Erm... I heard Lupin call you Alice the other day and figured that since we were... You know... Friends, I could call you that as well? But if you don't want me too I–" He began but he was cut off by her.

"Call me Alice, we're friends after all. And Ron and Hermione can call me that too!" She smiled. He returned her smile and his friend Alissa became Alice. They continued to walk to their common room. When they reached it, Ron and Hermione were both waiting for them. Before any of them had the chance to say anything, Harry spoke up.

"Guess who's our new Gryffindor Chaser?" he asked as he twirled Alice around. Hermione squealed and Ron's jaw dropped.

"I can't believe it!" He said.

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**THANKS FOR READING! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! Or a creepy old man will come an pierce your tragus while you're sleeping! Okay I should really stop with that. REVIEW!**

_GailyGail_


	12. Chapter 12

**HELLO! NEW CHAPTER! ENJOY! I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER!**

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Harry in a very good mood for the rest of the week, and so was Alice. The Quidditch practises were sucking up all of their energy but having a friend on the pitch really made up for it. He and Alice had invented a little game, each time they would pass each other while Harry was searching for the snitch and Alice was trying mark a point, they would make each other silly faces. It was childish but soon, the whole team was doing it except for Oliver whom this little game was driving crazy.

"For the last time, this is serious! Quidditch is not a game!" He said as Katie and Angelina were giggling at the face Fred and George were making.

"Oh no, Quidditch is life!" Alice laughed. Oliver huffed and walked away grumbling under his breath.

"DON'T FORGET, WE LOVE YOU OLLIE!" Fred called after him. Harry and Alice were still laughing when they arrived in the common room. They found Hermione and Ron talking excitedly at one of the tables. As they looked around, they noticed that everyone were in the same state of their two friends.

"What's going on?" Harry asked taking a seat.

"Hogsmeade visit." Ron said. "End of October, Halloween."

"Great." Harry said, his good mood fading away.

"Don't worry Harry, I'm sure you'll soon get to go! Don't forget, there's always next time!" Hermione said, patting his hand.

"Yeah but next time might be in ages! Just go over to McGonagall and ask her to sign it!" Ron said.

"Ron!" Hermione sighed.

"She won't only a parent or a guardian can sign it." Harry said. "And even if she could, she'd just tell me to spend the day studying!"

"Oh..." Ron said. "Well Hermione, Alice and I, we will bring lots of stuff from Zonko's and Honeydukes!"

"I'm not going either." Alice said.

"What? Why? Don't you have Lupin to sign your form?" Ron asked.

"He said I'm not allowed. He thinks it's not safe for me to wander around with no protection because... Well you know..." She trailed off. There was a bit of an awkward pause. Each time someone ended up mentioning Sirius Black, there always was a big silence. Alice never really talked about it and the others didn't want to ask either. Harry could understand, after all, how the hell do you react when your mass murderer father whom you haven't seen since you were a baby is on the loose and maybe after you? Harry knew it was none of his busyness but deep down, he was dying to know what she thought of this situation.

"We'll bring you stuff then... And on a brighter side, you two will get to be together!" Hermione said, trying to ease up the tension.

"Oh what a joy, stuck with a creepy kid with glasses the whole day!" Alice said jokingly.

"Hey!" Harry said as they all burst out laughing.

* * *

The end of October arrived much too fast for Harry's taste. All week the only thing people talked about was the Hogsmeade trip. Hermione and Ron had had another fight about Crookshanks and Scabbers and Harry found refuge in Alice. At least she didn't talk about the upcoming weekend like most of Hogwarts' population. When Harry had said that McGonagall wouldn't let him go without permission, he knew he was right but Alice still dragged him along to try. She had said that maybe if McGonagall said yes, Lupin would allow her to go. All they got was a very clear 'No' and an odd look which seemed like a pitying look. Dean Thomas offered them to copy his uncle's signature on their form but it was no use since they had already asked McGonagall. Despite the inutility of his intention, Dean had left a very good impression on Alice. Very slowly, some people had started to be nicer to her and it meant a great deal to her but in the end, they still couldn't go. Seeing their disappointed face, Ron and Hermione had forgotten about the quarrel and had promised them loads of sweets from Honeydukes. On the day of the trip, Alice and Harry watched with envy as the other students left for the Hogsmeade village.

"What do you want to do now?" Alice asked turning to face him.

"Go by the lake?" He asked.

"Sure." She said. They talked for a long time. Harry told her about the adventures of the past two years and about his life with the Dursleys. Alice told him about life in Russia, growing up with her grandparents and Lupin. She went to a magical primary school, where she had met one of her best friends, Vladimir. He had stood up for her when some kids were bullying her because of her name. He was three years older and very big so he really 'scared the crap out of them'. After that, people had started to respect her more and she started to have friends. Her grandparents had suddenly decided that they didn't want her to attend the secondary school she was supposed to go to because they taught kids about the Dark Arts so they sent her to Beauxbatons with Lupin. Alice had said that France was the most welcoming country she had been, people understood her situation a lot better and treated her equally. She really liked it but when Lupin got the job at Hogwarts, she was forced to follow.

"So you didn't want to come here?" Harry asked.

"No, I love Great Britain, even if people are a bit cold, but I didn't want to leave my friends. I was seriously missing Vlad and I didn't want to have to miss my friends from Beauxbatons!" She said. "At the beginning of the year, I really wanted to go back... And I almost did. Everyone hated me and mocked me. But then Hermione began to talk to me often and she said that we were friends now so I reviewed my decision."

"We still feel guilty for letting you down like that, we just feel very stupid." Harry said.

"It's okay, we're buddies now, that's all that matters." Alice smiled. They stayed in silence, just watching the Black lake.

"Alice, can I ask you something?" Harry asked.

"You want to know about my father, am I right?" Alice said, not looking at him.

"Well, yeah... But it's alright if you don't want to talk about it." Harry said hastily.

"No, it's alright. I know you guys want to know." She said.

"So what do you think about all of this?" Harry asked.

"Honestly, I don't know. The first thing I asked when I was little was 'Where's Mummy and Daddy?' My grandparents directly told me what I wanted to know while making it appropriate for a kid. They said that my father had done bad things and that he was being punished for it and that my mother was in nebo, heaven. When I got older I wanted to know what my father had done since he was never coming back. They explained me what he did and I didn't sleep for three days. Finally, I got around the fact that my father was a mass murderer and that I would never see him but last summer, he escaped. Again, I didn't sleep for three days. Then I got mad, I screamed at Dyadya, I didn't want to eat, I cried all the time,I was a mess. And it was because of something I had realised when I was still a kid. I couldn't bring myself to fully hate him. I hated what he had done, it made me sick but I wanted to see him so badly but I didn't want him near me at the same time. I couldn't understand anything and " She explained. Harry stayed silent and she turned to face him.

"I am deeply scared of him, if what he might do to me. He killed my mother maybe he wants to kill me too. But I can't help but crave for him to be my father. I love my grandparents and I love Dyadya, but I just don't feel like it's the same. I don't want the murderer, I want my father. I know it sounds crazy, I don't expect you to agree with me or to understand me. I know I shouldn't feel like that and I understand if you get mad at me, I feel disgusted with myself right now." She said. At the end, she was barely whispering. It took Harry a while to be able to say anything. Nobody had ever opened up like that to him, he didn't know what to say.

"I am not mad at you, I won't stop talking to you. I can't fully understand what you're living since your situation is quite unique. I don't have parents either and I too, sometimes crave for parental figures but I couldn't imagine myself finding one in someone as dangerous as Sirius Black. I respect your choice though. I know you don't have control on him, if he does anything, I won't ever blame it on you, it's not your fault." Harry said and Alice hugged him.

"Thank you." Alice said.

"It's normal, we're friends." Harry smiled.

"We're friends." Alice nodded.

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**Well? Was it good? Did you understand Alice's dilemna? I hope so but if it left you confused, well that's good since she is supposed to be a bit confused herself... Anyway. Somebody (calel) asked me if Alice and Harry were really going to get together. Yes. I didn't put 'Romance' in the categories for this story because there won't be any this year. After each year is done, I will start a new story for the following year that I will put in different categories, depending on what will happen during that year. I hope this is all clear. **

**Now, do I really have to say this? Like really? **

**REVIEW!REVIEW!REVIEW!REVIEW!**

_GailyGail_


	13. Chapter 13

**HEYYYY! 33 REVIEWS! THAT'S GREAT! I REAAAALLY LOVE YOU GUYS! Now, I have been thinking about the next years coming up and I've got something very important to ask you. You all know that in the books, Sirius dies at the end of Book 5 but I'm not sure if I want to kill him or not. If I don't kill him, there will be much more interaction between Voldemort and Alice and she is going to be a bit more the center of the story but If I kill him, she'll be more like I'm-Harry's-Friend-And-I-Fight-With-Him-Without-Being-Directly-Involved-In-The-Harry/Voldemort-Drama... I'm scared that if I don't kill him, Alice will outshine Harry, who is the main hero after all... But I do love the ideas that come with not killing Sirius...Should I kill him or not? Please answer me via Reviews or PM.**

**I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER!**

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They talked a bit more, about a lighter subject this and then decided to head back to the Gryffindor common room. Other than first and second year doing their homework, it was completely empty. Before they had the time to do anything, Colin Crivey popped up before them.

"Harry!" Colin cried. "Great to see you! Why aren't you in Hogsmeade? I thought you were supposed to visit it today? Do you want to sit with us? We were discussing about wether–" Harry kind of stopped listening, Colin was speaking so fast it was almost impossible to keep up with him. Harry turned to look at Alice who was staring blankly at Colin. Poor her, she probably didn't understand anything from what he was saying.

"–The giant squid! So do you want to sit with us?" Colin asked.

"Erm... No, Alice and I were just here to take our bags and then go studying at the library." Harry said, quickly making up a lie.

"Oh... Okay! Next time maybe, see yah Harry!" Colin said glancing furtively at Alice.

They both took their bags and left the common room, heading for the library.

"Is that boy always like that?" Alice asked.

"Always. I bet you didn't understand a thing he said." Harry said.

"Hey! I did understand a little bit! Like, Great to see you, Hogsmeade and he said something about sitting with a giant squid..." She said, unsure of the last one.

"Your getting better! Good Alice!" Harry laughed, patting her head.

She slapped his hand away but still laughed with him.

"Harry, I really don't feel like studying you know..." She said.

"Oh me neither. I just wanted an excuse to escape Colin." Harry said. They turned around to an unknown destination.

"You are horrible! That kid really seemed to–Chert!" She nearly screamed as they ran right into Filch.

"Where are you two going?" He asked glaring at them.

"Nowhere." Harry said.

"Shouldn't you two be in Hogsmeade, buying dung bombs to cause more trouble?" He asked suspiciously. They both shrugged and walked away quickly. They continued their journey towards they unknown destination when someone called after them from a classroom.

"Harry? Alice?"

They turned around and saw Lupin standing in the doorway. He smiled at them and gestured them to come in.

"Would you two care for a cup of tea? I was just about to make some." He said.

"Erm...okay?" Harry said looking at Alice. Her only response was a groan. They entered his office and Harry noticed a large tank filled with water. In it was a greenish skinned creature with little horns, long fingers and tentacles.

"Water demon, a Grindylow to be precise." Lupin informed. "We shouldn't have much trouble with him, not after the Kappas. The trick is to break his grip. You notice the abnormally long fingers? Strong, but very brittle."

"Interesting." Alice said sarcastically.

"Still angry are you?" Lupin asked as he poured hot tea in the mismatched cup he had offered them. Alice didn't answer. Instead, she just opened a tiny silver pot placed in front of her. It had something that looked a lot like jam in it but Harry didn't see scones or biscuits anywhere. She took a spoonful of jam and before swallowing it, she drank a bit of tea leaving Harry to stare at her strange tea routine.

'Russian people have a weird way of doing things' he thought.

"Alice." Lupin said. She let out a 'hmpff' and Lupin rolled his eyes.

"Our little miss Black doesn't take no as an answer, apparently." Lupin told Harry making Alice glare at him. Harry laughed awkwardly. Speaking to Lupin again remembered him of the Boggart class it was a long time ago but it still bothered Harry to know that his teacher didn't trust his capabilities.

"Is something bothering you Harry?" Lupin asked.

"No." Harry lied.

"And in this case, no means yes." Alice said. Lupin raised an eyebrow at Harry who sighed.

"Alright yes. You know that day when we had the class about Boggarts?" He asked. Lupin nodded slowly.

"Why didn't you let me fight it?" Harry asked quickly.

"Well, I thought it was as obvious to you as it was to me Harry." Lupin said, genuinely surprised. This was not what Harry was expecting, he was so dumbstruck he couldn't say a word.

"I figured that if you faced the boggart, it would take the form of Lord Voldemort." Lupin said simply. Harry was surprised, first Lupin had said Voldemort's name, apart from Dumbledore, Harry had never heard anyone say his name out loud. Second, Alice didn't flinch at all, no whimper, no nothing.

"I didn't think of him, I only thought of the Dementors." Harry said.

"Ah... So that would suggest that your biggest fear is fear itself... That's very wise Harry." He said. "And I presume you must have thought I didn't think you were capable of facing the Boggart?"

"Well... Yeah." He said. He was about to say something when somebody knocked at the door.

"Come in." Lupin said. The door opened and Snape came in, a fuming cup in his hands. He looked at Alice and Harry and narrowed his black eyes at them.

"Ah! Severus, thank you very much, could you leave it on my desk?" Lupin smiled. Snape put the cup on the desk and looked at them.

"Would you like to join us for tea Severus?" Lupin asked.

"No thank you." Snape said dryly, still eyeing Alice and Harry. "I made a cauldronful of it, if you need some more."

"Thank you very much, I may take some more tomorrow." Lupin said. Harry eyed the potion warily and then looked back at Lupin. He drank it and Harry almost expected him to drop dead any moment but he only made a sour face.

"Disgusting." He said.

* * *

They met Ron and Hermione in the great hall for the Halloween feast and Harry was very happy to see how much candy they had bought for him. During the meal, Harry told them about the fishy potion Snape had brought Lupin.

"He drank it?" Ron asked, his eyes big like the moon. "Is he mad?"

"I guess... You know, some people reckon that Snape would do anything to have the Defense Against Dark Arts teaching post." Harry said looking at Snape suspiciously.

"That's complete rubbish! He would never try something like that! Not with Dumbledore around!" Hermione said.

"He's just sick." Alice said. They all looked at her.

"He always got a bad health. When I was little he often went to the hospital. He has to take a potion and Snape was always the one who brewed it for him when we were in London. Scared the crap out of me each time he went to our house!" She explained.

"Oh." Ron said.

The feast ended and no one brought back the Snape to the discussion. Harry noticed that Alice looked a bit grim all of a sudden. Also, she hadn't eaten a lot despite the food being delicious. Harry frowned at her and she just shrugged. They went up to their common room and saw that nobody was going in.

"What's wrong?" Alice asked.

"The Fat Lady! She's gone!" Ginny said coming out of the crowd.

"What?" Hermione gasped. Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape and Lupin all rushed passed them and the crowd stepped a side. The Fat Lady's portrait was empty but ripped, as if someone had gotten very angry at it.

"We need to find her," said Dumbledore. "Professor McGonagall, please go to Mr. Filch and tell him to search every painting in the castle."

"Good luck at that!" Said a cackling voice above them. The all looked up to see Peeves smirking at them. "She won't speak to anyone! Too ashamed! She looks like a mess, I saw her running in the desert painting of the fourth floor!"

"Did she say who did it?" Dumbledore asked calmly.

"Oh that she did! She said he got very angry when she didn't let him in!" He cackled floating around Dumbledore. "That Sirius Black has a nasty temper!"

Everyone gasped and Harry looked at Alice. She was shaking very badly and was as pale as a ghost. She tried to open her mouth to say something but no sound came out.

"Professor Lupin, please take Miss Black to the infirmary. Everyone else, to the Great Hall!" Dumbledore said.

"Come Alice..." Lupin said taking her trembling hand as they slowly went down the stairs. The students all watched then leave, either whispering or looking at her warily.

* * *

**THANKS FOR READING, REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**

**A big thank you to Siena McGonagall Dumbledore who kindly helps me with the Grammar. I suck at Grammar.**

_GailyGail_


	14. Chapter 14

**Heyyyyyyy! I'M SOOOO SORRY I DIDN'T UPDATE! I just have been a bit busy, and I just wrote very slowly... I try to update sooner! Anyways, I DO NOT OWN HP I DO NOT OWN THE PLOT, THE CHARACTERS BUT THE OCs ARE MINE!**

* * *

The Gryffindors were soon joined by the Hufflepuffs, then the Ravenclaws and after that, the Slytherins. The teachers summoned sleeping bags for everyone to sleep in. Harry took two. He knew the spare one wouldn't be used but still, he wanted Alice to have something to sleep in in case she came back. The Gryffindors were telling the rest of the school what had happened, not forgetting to mention Alice in their stories. Some students of course, were making up lies. Some were saying that Alice had lost it, tried to attack the professors and also that she had to be stunned so they could take her to the hospital. Ron, Harry and Hermione rolled their eyes at their pathetic tales and agreed to clear out her name in the morning.

"Poor Alice, I can't imagine what she's going through right now." Hermione said sadly.

"I wonder what she thinks of all of this." Ron said.

"I asked her while you two were in Hogsmeade. We went by the lake and I asked her how she felt." Harry said.

"What did she say?" Hermione asked and Harry told them what se had told him, how she had grown up in this situation, how scared she was of him but how she craved for a paternal figure. And how she understood if they chose to never speak to her again.

"That's terrible!" Hermione cried and Ron looked a bit grim.

"All right everyone, lights out, and no talking!" Percy said. Of course nobody stopped talking, they just did it more quietly. Each thirty minutes, a teacher would come in to check if everything was going well. It was only until three in the morning that the students began to go to sleep. After agreeing to go see her in the infirmary the next morning, Harry, Ron and Hermione went to sleep but Harry stayed awake. Millions of thoughts went through his head, keeping him from sleep. After a while, the doors of the Great Hall opened and the sound of footsteps drew near Harry who automatically pretended to sleep. He heard Percy whisper but he was close enough to hear what he was saying.

"Any sign of him, Headmaster?" He asked.

"No." Said Dumbledore. "Everything well here?"

"Yes sir, everything is under control." Percy said.

"Good. There's no point moving them all now. I have found a temporary portrait for the Gryffindor's painting hole. Everyone will be able to go back to their dormitory tomorrow." Dumbledore said

"What about the Fat Lady?" Percy asked

"She is currently in a map of Argyllshire on the second floor. She refused to let Black enter and he got mad. Mr. Filch will restore her soon." Dumbledore explained. The doors opened again and more people entered the Great Hall. Harry opened his eyes for a fraction if seconds and saw it was Snape and McGonagall. Percy seemed to get the cue to leave and go tell a group of first years to sleep.

"The third floor has been searched and Filch checked the dungeons. No sign of him." Snape said.

"What about the owlery? Trelawney's rooms? The astronomy tower?" Dumbledore asked.

"All searched. Black is nowhere to be seen." Snape said. There was a pose and Dumbledore spoke up again.

"And how is Miss Black?" He asked.

"She broke down as soon as she stepped in the infirmary. She did not calm down however, Madam Pomfrey had to force a sleeping potion down her throat but Professor Lupin told us this has happened before and that she'll get better in a couple of days. She is now resting, Professor Lupin and Madam Pomfrey are looking after her." McGonagall said. At those words, Harry couldn't help but frown sadly.

"Good. She'll go back to attend her classes when she'll feel better. Right now, all she needs is support and a good night's rest." Dumbledore said.

"Any idea how he got in the castle?" Snape asked.

"Many, but each one is as crazy as the next." Dumbledore said.

* * *

The next morning, Harry was woken up by Hermione.

"Alice! We've got to go see Alice!" She said. That woke up Harry. They woke up Ron, which took a while seeing Ron is not a morning person. Unless there's breakfast involved. Almost nobody was up, only some early birds ravenclaws who were chatting quietly. They got up, and headed towards the doors, only to come face to face with McGonagall once they had passed them.

"May I ask what you three are doing this early? The common room is still unavailable." She said.

"We were going to the infirmary Professor." Hermione said confidently. "To see how Alice is doing."

McGonagall looked at them with her piercing eyes and nodded stiffly.

"You may go." She said. "Although, visiting a friend in the infirmary won't be a valuable excuse to be late to your first period."

"Thank you Professor." Hermione said and they all hurried to the Hospital wing. Getting McGonagall's permission to see Alice was of a great help when it came to confront Madam Pomfrey. All the beds were empty except for one near a window, permitting it's occupant to enjoy the last rays of sunshine the sun had to offer before winter came. Lupin was sitting beside the bed, looking very tired. When he saw them his face lit up but neither of the three noticed. Their eyes were glued on Alice. She was in hospital robes, white ones and her normally curly hair was now frizzy, with some locks still in her face. She was abnormally white and was still a bit shaking but the worst were her eyes. They were red, puffy but completely dead, the usual mischievous glint they wore was gone. She was looking right in front of her but her gaze seemed lost, it was like she was looking at something without seeing it.

"Alice, look who's here." Lupin said. Alice didn't react, she kept staring at the opposite wall.

"Alice?" Lupin asked again. She didn't seem to hear at all, it was like she was cut out from reality. Lupin sighed and sat up straighter.

"Алиса, дорогая, ваши друзья пришли к вам. Разве вы не хотите, чтобы поговорить с ними?" He said. Beside him, Harry heard Hermione whisper 'Russian' to Ron. Very slowly, Alice's head turned towards them, she looked at them but Harry, again, got the feeling she didn't really see them.

"Сделать их уйти." She said. Her voice was hoarse and tear stains could be seen on her cheeks.

"Alice..." Lupin sighed.

"Я не хочу говорить с ними. Я просто хочу, чтобы их оставили в покое." She said. Lupin looked at Harry, Ron and Hermione and gave them a sad smile.

"Alice is not feeling really good–" He said.

"Не лежать на них. Просто скажите им, что я не хочу, чтобы поговорить с ними." Alice said.

"–Maybe you three should come back tomorrow..." He said ignoring Alice's comment. Harry was about to argue but Ron just pulled him towards the door. Hermione was about to follow them when Lupin called her name.

"Hermione could I just ask you something?" He asked. Hermione looked at them and nodded. She stayed inside while Harry and Ron exited the infirmary.

"Why did you do that? I thought we said we would tell her were not mad at her?" Harry asked.

"Harry, I'm no girl expert, I don't understand Russian either but I do know a few things. Alice didn't want us there and believe me, if a girl tells you to go away, then do go away! Ginny can get merciless when it comes to those kind o things!" Ron said.

"Great, maybe you should try that with Hermione then." Harry and and Ron's face went red. He mumbled something about it not being the same thing but Harry just smirked at him. Hermione came out beaming and went to them.

"What's got you in such good mood? Did she talk?" Harry asked.

"Oh he just asked me to bring Alice some personal items she might need when we can access the Gryffindor tower again." She said.

"And...?" Ron asked.

"Well, he said he trusted me better than anyone because Alice once told him that I was her best friend here..." Hermione said happily. "I'm so happy that she thinks that of me!"

"And what are Ron and me? Pieces of meat?" Harry joked. Hermione rolled her eyes as they headed towards the Great Hall. Harry mentally swore to himself that they would get Alice to talk to them and maybe, get back to her normal self.

* * *

**Mmmmh... not one of my best chapters if you ask me... Sorry :( But hey! THERE WAS SOME RUSSIAN! I didn't write the romanization or whatever it's called because it would have been harder to write due to the lenght of te conversation between Alice and Lupin... I decided to write the translation here:**

**Lupin: Alissa darling, your friends came to see you. Don't you want to talk to them?**

**Alice: Make them go away.**

***Lupin sighs***

**Alice: I don't want to talk to them. I just want to be left alone.**

***Lupin talks***

**Alice: Don't lie to them. Just tell them I don't want to speak with them.**

**I think this is what I am going to do for now. If the interaction in another language is too long I won't write the romanization, I'll write it in it's original language and write te translation at the end of each chapter... Now, OHMYGOD PLL LAST NIGHT! I AM STILL IN SHOCK! Sorry, I had to say it...ANYWAY YOU ALL KNOW THIS, I WANT YOU, I NEED YOU TO REVIEW! Reviews make me happy.**

_GailyGail_


	15. Chapter 15

**HEY! YO! WHAT'S UP? I have some BIG apologies to make : I AM SOOO SORRY FOR BEING NON-EXISTANT! I SAID THT I WOULD UPDATE MORE OFTEN BUT JUST DIDN'T HAVE TIME, I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SORRY, PLEASE FORGIVE ME! I was out of town for few days, I had a piano concert, WHICH I ROCKED, and than my very busy parents made me and my sister in charge of the two little devils we have for brothers. Yayyyyyy not. Anyway, I was very busy and then very tired so I didn't update. Sorry. As always, I DO NOT OWN HP! HOW SAD!**

**Oh! By the way, ProngsandPady, your review really made my day :D! This is so cool, I made a new friend. Anyway, I don't really enjoy people hunting me down so I'll try (like really really hard) to update more often.**

**THANKS TO SIENA MCGONAGALL DUMBLEDORE FOR HER PRECIOUS HELP! YOU'RE AWESOME!**

* * *

The rest of the day wasn't very enjoyable. During breakfast, the only thing people were talking about was Sirius Black. People kept looking at Harry, Ron and Hermione, some of them listening to their conversation to try to learn more about Alice's state. Some courageous firsts years even walked up to them and asked the most nosy questions Harry ever thought someone could ask. Of course Ron gladly scared them off yelling how it was 'none of their bloody business!'. The classes seemed dull without Alice, she really had the best comebacks. Harry and Ron were playing wizard's chess by the fireplace, the common room had just reopened, when Hermione went down the stairs of the girl's dormitory, with a proud look on her face. She was carrying Alice's stuff. Learning that Alice saw her as a best friend had put her in a good mood.

"Help me carry all this to the infirmary." She said, dropping some of the items on Harry and Ron's lap.

"Do we really have a choice?" Ron asked looking as if he really didn't want to quit his chess game.

"Of course not." Hermione said, already going through the portrait hole. The walked in silence to the infirmary when Ron stopped in his tracks.

"Wait, how come you got all this? I thought she put padlocks on her bags?" He asked.

"They're not real Ronald, it's just to scare people. To make sure they won't touch anything." Hermione said.

"Oh." Ron said. They arrived in the infirmary and Hermione told Madam Pomfrey that she had permission from Lupin; she wouldn't have let them in without it. This time, Alice was alone. She was staring at the ceiling an Harry noticed a tray of food on her bedside that laid untouched.

"Here Alice, we brought your things." Hermione said sitting on a chair beside her. "We have your pajamas, your toothbrush, your brush and a sweater, Harry's got them. Ron and I brought you your school things. Now we got fourteen inches of parchments on enlarging potions for potions due for Friday; I'd start now if I were you. Also McGonagall–"

"Why are you here?" Alice cut harshly. She looked coldly at Hermione who looked very surprised. Her surprised expression changed to a hurt one but she quickly hid it with a smile.

"We've brought you your things Alice, and we came to make sure you were alright!" She said and Alice scoffed.

"To see if I am alright? Do I look like I'm alright Granger?" She spat. Hermione's smile vanished and tears appeared in her eyes.

"Alice, we—" she began but Alice cut her. At this Harry just lost his patience. He had missed Alice, she was dear to him but there was no reason for her to be like that with Hermione, who just wanted to be a good friend.

"Now how about you ask me want you really want to know? No wait, you don't even have to ask! I know what you want to know anyway and let me tell you: I do not have anything to do with him coming here, I didn't ask him to come I didn't want to come. I didn't speak to him I didn't even know he was that close to Hogwarts, I didn't know anything! She said.

"What kind of people you think we are?" Harry asked. "Do you honestly think that we think that it's your fault? Do you honestly think Hermione came here in hope that you'd admit that you helped him get in? We know you didn't! We just wanted to tell you that we are with you and that we support you! If you can't believe that then we can't do anything Alice!" By the end of his little speech, Alice was looking down on her lap. Slowly, a tear rolled down her cheek and landed on the blanket. Soon followed by many others. Hermione sat on the bed and hugged Alice who just sobbed on her shoulder.

"Alice, you're our friend and friends must support each other. We're with you on this one and don't expect us to let you down!" Ron said, patting her back.

"I'm sorry... I just... I feel so lost and so scared and..." Alice sniffed, not even ending her sentence.

"It's okay, we understand." Hermione said. A muffled "Thank you" came from Alice and Hermione pulled back.

"That's what best friends are for. It is my job to make sure you're well!" Hermione stated, making Alice smile through her tears. Ron let out a loud cough and they all looked at him.

"Well...?" He asked and Alice looked genuinely puzzled. She looked at Harry, then at Ron and at Harry again. Finally she understood where was Ron going with this and got up a big smile on her face. She ran to Ron and hugged him very tightly.

"Of course! How could I forget? You're my best friend too Ronniekins!" She cooed.

"Alice... Can't breathe!" Ron said, struggling out of her grip. She laughed and pulled back. She turned to face Harry and smiled at him. She hugged him and Harry felt a warm feeling spreading across his body. A feeling of comfort, the kind you get on sundays afternoon, just sitting by the fire and thinking about nothing in particular.

"Thank you." She whispered.

* * *

They spent the rest of the evening talking while Alice set up her things. Around nine o'clock, Madam Pomfrey shooed them away but Harry managed to ask Alice one last thing.

"When are you coming back?" He asked.

"The day after tomorrow, Madam Pomfrey said I have to stay for observation." She said. "I... I still have some... Panic attacks at night..."

"Oh." Harry said. She blushed in embarrassment but Harry shrugged.

"No big deal, I'm sure it'll stop." He said.

"Yeah well, I'm not going back to the dorm if I still have them. Not with Parvati and Lavender around..." She said. She sighed, bit her lip and ran a hand through her hair. "I just want all of this mess to be over! Why can't I live a normal life like anyone else?"

"I know the feeling..." Harry sighed. Alice smiled weakly and her eyes filled up with tears again.

"And... Sometimes I just feel so... Damn why do I keep crying?!" She said, wiping away a tear that fell from her eye.

"Maybe a good night's rest would be good for you..." Harry said.

"It would be very good for her indeed, Mr Potter. Now get out or I'll make you clean the bathroom floor with a toothbrush!" Madam Pomfrey warned.

"Right! Bye Alice!" He said, running out of the room. He disappeared behind the door but then he came back, he had forgotten to say something very important.

"Alice!" He called. She looked at him and tilted her head on the side.

"Eat!" He said, before disappearing again, leaving Alice smiling after him.

* * *

**AWWWWW LITTLE HARRY GETS ALL WARM WHEN ALICE HUGS HIM! Ok maybe not in 'that' way. (yet). I'm trying to add a bit of the first part of the beginning of the start of the initiation of the birth of the romance that will blossom between Harry and Alice. I just don't want to overdo it since it'll take quite a long time before it really be important in the story.**

**OKAY I KNOW THAT I AM A HORRIBLE PERSON FOR NOT UPDATING BUT PLEASE! REVIEEEEEEEEW! EVEN IF IT IS ONLY TO SAY RANDOM THINGS! JUST REVIEEEEEWWW!**

_GailyGail_


	16. Chapter 16

**OKAY, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU GAIL? Y U NO UPDATING? ('cause I am a lazy person) SORRY! Damn it. I SWEAR, I AM TRYING TO UPDATE QUICKLY BUT THE WORDS WON'T COME! ARGHHHHH. Also, I'm tired of Alice still being in the infirmary, except for dialogues, there's nothing to make her do! DAMN YOU ALICE! How about I shut up? Yeah that would be a good idea.**

**GUESS WHAT? I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER! ISN'T THAT AMAZING? No actually, it sucks.**

**THANK YOU TO SIENA MCGONAGALL DUMBLEDORE WHI CHECKS MY WORK! YOU ARE COOOOL.**

* * *

The next morning, Harry woke up earlier then normal. He considered waking up Ron too but he dropped the idea when he saw his friend deeply asleep, his mouth wide and a bit of drool coming out of it. He looked so peaceful. In his own kind of way. The Great Hall was almost empty, only one or two professors and a group of Ravenclaws who were silently studying. Harry filled two plates of food and was making his way towards the doors when someone called after him.

"Harry!" That someone said. Harry turned around and saw that it was Oliver Wood.

"How are you?" Oliver asked but didn't even let him answer. "Have you talked to Alissa recently? Do you know when she's coming back? Because the match is Saturday and we need her on the field!"

"Er... Yeah. I talked to her just yesterday, she's going to be back tomorrow morning..." Harry said.

"Fantastic! She'll make it for the practise then! And tell her that once she's back we're going to practise in the morning and in the evening! We've got to win the match!" Oliver said.

"Okay. I'll tell her." Harry nodded.

"Great, I have to go back to my work! I'm doing some last minute review of our strategies! See you!" And he was gone. Harry went to the infirmary and Madam Pomfrey rushed out of her office.

"You again? Mr. Potter I'm sorry to ask you this but, do you have a life?" She asked. Harry blushed a little but looked at her seriously.

"Er... But Madam Pomfrey... Haven't you noticed that Alice doesn't eat? She told me she didn't eat the last time she was in such shock! And I thought that if someone ate with her, she'd start eating sooner. Eating is important! She won't get better if she doesn't eat! And... Why are you looking at me like that?" He finished abruptly. Madam Pomfrey was looking at him weirdly. She patted his shoulder and smiled at him.

"This is very nice of you Potter. I am sure that Miss Black will be very glad to have company." She said. Harry just looked at her.

"Good, then I'll go see her!" He said, walking towards Alice's bed, which was surrounded by curtains. Again, Madam Pomfrey stopped him in his tracks.

"Mr. Potter!" She cried. Harry turned around again, annoyed.

"You can't just waltz in on a sleeping young lady!" She cried and Harry groaned She shook her head and disappeared behind the curtains. A minute later, Madam Pomfrey came out and gave him permission to see Alice. He glanced at the plates and wondered if they had gotten cold.

"Good morning." He said sitting down and putting the plates on a nearby night stand. Alice glared at him and yawned.

"Why so early? I wanted to sleep in!" She whined.

"Madam Pomfrey wouldn't have let you." He chuckled and Alice sighed.

"How did last night went?" He asked.

"Good actually, I took a while before I fell asleep but I didn't get any attacks. If everything goes well tonight, I'll come back to the dorm." She said.

"That's good. I met Oliver in the Great Hall. He says that once you're back, we'll have practises morning and nights until the match, on saturday." Harry said. Alice groaned and leaned back on her pillow.

"I had completely forgotten about the match!" She cried.

"You might don't want to say that in front of Oliver, if your life is dear to you." Harry said and Alice smiled.

"I brought breakfast." He said after a moment of silence. "And you're going to eat it."

"Harry..." Alice began as he just put the plate on her lap.

"Eat." He commanded.

"You sound like my Babushka." She said. Harry raised an eyebrow.

"My Grandmother." She specified.

"She would say that eh? Then it's two against one so eat." He said. Alice glared at him, sitting up straight.

"Not hungry." She said. Harry rolled his eyes and grabbed her fork. He gathered a bit of egg on it and placed it in front of her face.

"One bite for Harry." He said and she pushed his hand aside.

"Oh shut up!" She laughed.

"For Hermione?"

"Nope."

"For Ron?"

"No."

"For the twins?"

"Eat it yourself."

"For Dumbledore!"

"What the hell?"

"How about Snape?"

"You're an idiot, Potter." Alice laughed again.

"One for me?" Someone said. The looked up and saw Lupin looking at them with an amused expression.

"Professor, put some sense in her!" Harry said looking at him intently.

"I doubt our little Alice would do anything for professor Snape." He said sitting on the opposite side of the bed. Harry looked at Alice.

"I'm serious. Eat something Alice." He said. She stared at the fork for a moment and finally leaned forward. She opened her mouth and looked at Harry. He shook his head and put it in her mouth. She grabbed it from his hand and put it back on the plate. Lupin chuckled and Harry looked victorious.

"Why are you here Dyadya?" Alice said after swallowing her bite.

"To try to make you eat, but it seems like Harry beat me to it." He said. Harry smiled but noticed he looked very tired. He was pale, with bags under his eyes and even more wrinkles then before.

"Are you alright Professor?" Harry asked.

"A bit tired, that's all." He simply said.

Shortly after, Harry and Lupin had to leave, or they would both be late for classes. Just before they reached the Great Hall, Lupin stopped in his tracks. He turned around to look at Harry and smiled.

"Thank you." He said. Harry's eyebrows shut up and he looked at Lupin a bit surprised.

"Er...?" He said, not exactly sure where Lupin was going with this.

"Thank you. To you but also to Ron and Hermione. You all mean a lot to Alice and I am glad to see that she means a lot to you three too. She is going through a lot but you're sticking with her. You have no idea how I am grateful for that" He said seriously, but smiling nonetheless.

"Oh. Well it's our pleasure. Alice is adorable, and she really is a good friend so it's normal to have her back..." Harry said, running a hand through his hair.

"That, she is. Alice is simply adorable. This whole Sirius Black thing has a lot of effect on her. She is desperate to prove she is not like him." He said thoughtfully.

"She definitely proved it to us. Soon, everyone's going to get that around their head and realise what they missed." Harry said. Lupin beamed at him and patted his back.

"Come on Harry, you are going to be late now. I will see you soon." He said as he walked away.

* * *

**ALICE COMES OUT OF THE INFIRMARY NEXT CHAPTER! AND THERE WILL BE QUIDDITCH! YES! QUIIIIDDIIITCH! Anyway, PLEASE REVIEW! It really gives me motivation! REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**

_GailyGail_


	17. Chapter 17

**HEY! SUMMER IS IN ****THE AIR! So I have been going out a lot, SORRY! I do not own anything. HOPE YOU'LL LIKE IT!**

* * *

Just after supper, that night. Harry was asked to go to Professor McGonagall.

"I am going to go straight to the point Potter, Sirius Black–" she said.

"I know, he's after me. Mr Weasley told me. He works for the Ministry." Harry said.

McGonagall looked a bit taken aback but soon regained her composture.

"Well, that being said... Potter, you do know that befriending Miss Black wasn't the most strategic thing to do. It is now easier for Black to get to you two..." She said but Harry cut her again.

"There is no way I'm leaving her, nor Hermione or Ron are going to leave her, Professor." Harry said, a bit annoyed. When was everybody going to understand that the four of them would stick together no matter what.

"Understandable." She said. She thought for a bit before continuing. "Also, you do understand that it is not safe for you to be out of the castle after supper, the grounds are very exposed therefore–"

"But Professor, we have a Quidditch match on Saturday, you do want us to win right?" Harry said. He knew where she had been going with this; she wanted to forbid him from leaving the castle. Perhaps mentioning Quidditch would make her change her mind. Harry knew she wanted them to win more than anything.

"Off course Potter!" She said indignantly "I'll arrange you to have your practises watched by Madam Hooch then." She said.

Harry smiled and stood up to leave but just before he reached the door, McGonagall called after him.

"Mr Potter?" She asked.

"Yes?" He responded.

"Have you told Miss Black Potter? Have you told her that Black is also after you?" She asked.

"No." Harry said.

"When the time comes, you should tell her Potter." She said. Harry nodded and left McGonagall's office.

* * *

The next morning, Harry was pleased to come down the Boy's Dormitory and see Alice waiting for him.

"Alice!" He said, hugging her.

"Someone's happy to see me!" She laughed.

"Let's just get down to practise." Harry said. In the Great Hall, they met Madam Hooch, who was waiting to escort them to practise. The whole thing went well, as soon as the twin saw her they began to jump up and down, giggling 'she's back!' Angelina smiled at her and Katie hugged her. It was nice to see that everyone cared about her. After everyone had calmed down, Oliver made an announcement.

"We're not playing Slytherin anymore. We're playing Hufflepuff." He said.

"What? Why?" The twins said at the same time.

"Flint says his seeker's injured, he can't play." Oliver grumbled.

"I had been looking forward to kick that slimy snake's arse!" Alice whined.

"But he's faking it!" Harry said.

"I know, Flint probably doesn't want to play in those conditions, he probably thinks the bad weather." Oliver said, pacing around them. "Plus we'll have to rethink our whole strategy, the Slytherins and the Hufflepuffs have a really different style of playing. Plus they have a new Captain, Cedric Diggory–"

Katie and Angelina began to giggle loudly and Alice gave a small happy sigh.

"What?" Oliver asked, clearly annoyed to be interrupted.

"Cedric Diggory! He's that tall, attractive one isn't he?" Angelina asked through her giggles.

"Strong but quiet!" Katie said.

"Romantic but reserved!" Alice added dreamingly. Harry frowned and the twins huffed.

"He's only quiet because he's too thick to put two words together!" Fred said, annoyed.

"Oliver just calm down, beating Hufflepuff will be easy! Remember last time? Harry caught the snitch in what? Five minutes?" George said. Oliver grumbled under his breath and they all headed to the Quidditch pitch for practise.

During practise, Alice was literally on fire, she kept marking more and more points. The only thing Oliver had to say after was that she better do that good on the next match. Harry knew she just wanted impress everyone, this was some sort of way to 'make up' for the Sirius Black incident. That reminded Harry of McGonagall's words. He had to tell her. He had to tell her she wasn't the only cause of all of this.

* * *

The last day before the match was very stressful. Oliver kept telling Harry last minutes arrangements regarding the strategy and giving him last minutes tips. He left Alice alone thought, but mostly because she had already a lot going on. People had restarted to make comments about her and Harry could clearly see that some of the insults they were throwing at her were hurting her, even if she tried to hide it. At first she had eaten like before the incident but the stress of the Quidditch match and her reputation was getting to her, reducing her appetite to almost nothing again. Harry had talked about telling Alice with Ron and Hermione and they all agreed to have a talk after the Quidditch game.

The weather had gotten even worse and now, the whole team was getting worried. The Hufflepuff Quidditch team was a bit of a joke but with the weather they were going to have, Harry was beginning to think he might get blown away by the wind as soon as he got in the air. To top it all, their DADA class were by far the worst they ever had. Oliver had stopped Harry between classes again to give him advices, resulting into making Harry late for class.

"Sorry I'm late Professor Lu–" he said, bursting through the door, but he was cut short when he saw who he was talking to. It was Snape.

"The class began ten minutes ago Potter, how about ten point from Gryffindor? Sit down." Snape said coolly but Harry stayed still.

"Where is Professor Lupin?" He asked.

"He is apparently to ill to teach." Snape said. "O believe I told you to sit, Potter."

"What's wrong with him?" Harry said, still not moving.

"Nothing too life-threatening Potter. Five points from Gryffindor and if I have to ask you to sit again it will be fifty." Snape said. Harry sat down beside Alice who shot him a curious look.

"Oliver." Harry simply said and she nodded.

"Where's Lupin?" Harry asked her, thinking he might get a more honest answer.

"Sick." She said. He looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

"I told you before, he has a bad health. It just got particularly worst the past days." She said.

"But what does he have?" Harry asked.

"It's kind of rare and complicated to explain." She whispered as Snape passed beside them. Harry eyed her suspiciously but dropped the subject.

"As I was saying before Potter interrupted us, since Lupin has left no record of what you have studied, we will study... Werewolves." Snape said, glaring at Alice for an unknown reason.

"What?!" She cried. Everyone jumped and looked at her weirdly. She blushed slightly. "I mean... we weren't supposed to began this topic before the next term..."

"Five points from Gryffindor for your outburst, Miss Black." Snape barked.

"But sir, we've done Boggarts, Red Caps, Kappas, and Grindylows." said Hermione quickly. "And we're just about to start–"

"Be quiet," said Snape coldly. "I would have expected first years to be able to deal with Grindylows and Lupin should have known that.

"He's the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we've ever had," said Dean Thomas loudly.

"Damn right." Alice murmured.

"Quiet!" Snape said menacingly. " I am in charge to judge what this class should be studying. Now, open your books to page 394!"

"But sir, we really aren't supposed to go there! We have barely started the Hinkypunks." Hermione said.

"Miss Granger, this is the second time that you've spoken out of turn, five points from Gryffindor for being an insufferable know-it-all." Snape sneered. Hermione immediately dropped her gaze and went very red. Tears fell from her eyes and every Gryffindor in the room glared at Snape. Alice shot up from her chair and slammed both of her hand on her desk loudly.

"How dare you, you git! You may be a teacher but nothing gives you the right to insult anyone! There's a lot of reasons why everyone likes Lupin, one of them being that he respects us! Unlike your slimy self!" She growled. The whole room was silent, everyone was staring at either Alice or Snape. Everyone was making faces of approval in Alice's direction but they still knew she had gone too far.

"Detention Miss Black! You ought to watch that big mouth of yours or the consequences will be very severe!" Snape yelled. Alice sat down and the whole class remained silent for the rest of the lesson. Snape finished his explications on werewolves and they all started to work quietly. When the bell rang everyone got out of the class, except for Alice, who had to stay and schedule her detention with Snape.

Harry, Ron and Hermione waited for her outside of the class. She came out, obviously angry and let out a shriek of frustration.

"I hate him, I hate him, I hate him!" She repeated.

* * *

**THANKS TO SIENA MCGONAGALL DUMBLEDORE! NOW YOU ALL KNOW WHAT TO DO: R.E.V.I.E.W!**

_GailyGail_


	18. Chapter 18

**THIS GIRL IS ON FIREEEEE! THAT'S RIGHT I WAS ON FIRE AND WROTE ANOTHER CHAPTER! WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THAT? UH? UH? I do not own Harry Potter. HOPE YOU'LL LIKE THIS CHAPTER!**

* * *

The day of the match, Harry was woken up very early by the strong winds blowing outside. He stumbled out of bed and quietly dressed. After chasing Crookshanks out of the boy's dormitory, he went to the common room and waited for the others to come down. He finally heard someone come down and turned around to see Alice, in a very bad mood marching down the stairs. She had had her detention with Snape the night before and as expected, it didn't went well. She plopped down on the couch where Harry was sitting and groaned, putting her head in her face.

"I hate Peeves." She stated. "He set my alarm to go off at four in the morning."

She got up and grabbed Crookshanks, who was trying to sneak in the boy's dormitory again and went back to sit beside Harry. Crookshanks began to purr in her arms as she began to scratch him behind the ears.

"I have a cat back home, in Russia." She said. "Her name's Diana. She's as white as the moon. That's why I named her like that. Diana was the goddess of the moon." Harry nodded but didn't say anything. They sat in a comfortable silence, just listening to the sound of the wind outside.

Finally, it was breakfast time and they both went to the Great Hall. Oliver soon joined them, adding a bit of food in their plates but eating nothing himself. By the time they had started to eat, the whole team had shown up. Oliver went to everyone of them, giving them last minute tips and often pilling up more food in their plates, like he had done to Alice and Harry.

"Just calm down Oliver!" Katie cried as he poor more porridge in her bowl. He remained quiet for the rest of the meal an they left for the Quidditch pitch. Despite the strong winds an the now heavy rain, the whole school was going to see the game, wrapped up in raincoats and hidden under large umbrellas of course. Harry and Alice saw Malfoy, Crabbe an Goyle laughing and pointing at them from under their umbrellas. Harry had to restrain Alice from making a very rude hand gesture to Malfoy. They all dressed in their Quidditch robes and waited for Oliver to make his usual pre-match speech. After many failed attempts of talking, Oliver just sent them all to the pitch. Harry gave Alice, who was a bit shaking, a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder.

"Everything will go well." He said. She smiled at him and they entered the pitch. The whole school was cheering, either for Gryffindor or Hufflepuff and Oliver went to shake hands with Cedric Diggory, the Hufflepuff captain. Cedric smiled at Oliver but even if he was not facing him, Harry knew Oliver didn't smile back. Madam Hooch mouthed them to mount their brooms and they all shot in the air. The match began and everything became very blurry for Harry. He almost got hit by a Bludger twice since his vision was clouded by the rain. Alice, on the other hand was zooming around with ease. The Hufflepuff beaters had a hard time sending Bludgers her way due to her speed. She intercepted the Quaffle easily, her small frame allowing her to sneak between the adversary chasers and catching the Quaffle before they did. The whole stadium burst out in cheers each time she scored. Harry wasn't completely sure, but he thought he heard people shouting her name in encouragement.

After a while, Harry saw Wood's form on the ground gesturing them to come down. The whole team hid under a big umbrella, on the edge of the field.

"I called in a time-out." Oliver screamed, trying to cover the sound of the rain.

"What's the score?" Harry asked.

"We're fifty points up!" Oliver said nudging Alice with his elbow, making her smile and blush a bit. "But if you don't catch the snitch now, we'll definitely play into the night."

"I can't see a thing with those!" Harry said, waving his glasses. At that moment, Hermione showed up beside him.

"I've had an idea! Give me your glasses!" She demanded. Harry gave them to her and Hermione tapped them with her wand.

"Impervius!" She said. She gave them back to Harry, who saw that his vision was no longer blurry with rain.

"I charmed them so they would repeal water!" She said. She ran back to the crowd, leaving everyone watching the glasses with amazement. The match continued and Harry was soaked and cold again but at least, he could see clearly. He spotted the snitch near Diggory and a panic took place in him. He wanted to win after all.

"Come on!" He growled at his broom. "Faster!"

Suddenly, everything went very silent, he looked around him and couldn't see the pitch anymore, he was surrounded by clouds. He couldn't see Diggory or the Snitch, it was like they had vanished. He looked around him and a cold chill ran down his spine. He was surrounded by at least a hundred Dementors, all floating around him, not bothered by the wind at all. One of them got closer and Harry heard a woman scream again. But this time, it didn't end there.

"No! Not Harry! Please not Harry!" He heard a woman scream.

"Stand aside silly girl... Stand aside!" A cold, high pitched voice responded.

"No! Please kill me instead! Not Harry!" The woman begged. A blinding mist filled Harry's head. Why was he flying? The woman needed help! He had to help her or she was going to die! Suddenly, he was falling, falling in the blinding mist.

"Have mercy! Please not Harry!" The woman cried. Harry heard the cold, high pitched voice laugh cruelly and then, everything went black.

"–the ground was soft."

"I was so sure he was dead."

"Didn't even break his classes."

"If he dies, I am going to kill him!"

Harry heard all sorts of voices around him but couldn't understand what they were saying. He didn't even know where he was, how he had gotten there or why he was there. He opened his eyes and saw a pair of shinning grey eyes looking worriedly at him.

* * *

"Harry!" Many of them cried in relief.

"What happened?" He asked.

"You fell off." Alice breathed. She hugged him tightly and Harry groaned in pain; his whole body was aching.

"Sorry..." She said. "I just thought that you were dead." Beside her, Hermione let out a squeaky noise and Harry looked at her. Her eyes were red and puffy.

"But what about the match?" Harry asked. When nobody answered, his stomach dropped.

"We didn't loose right?" He asked.

"Harry... We don't blame you but just after you fell, Diggory caught the Snitch. When he saw you on the ground, he wanted a rematch but Hufflepuff had won fair and square... Even Oliver agreed." Alice said.

"Where is he?" Harry said looking around.

"In the shower," Fred said. "Probably trying to drown himself." Harry looked down. He had never, ever lost a match before. Alice sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed his back.

"Don't worry... The season's not over yet..." She whispered. The team left, leaving only Hermione, Ron and Alice at Harry's side.

"Dumbledore was furious. I've never seen him so angry." Ron said. "When you began to fall, he ran to the field. He slowed you down before you hit the ground and he began to shoot silver stuff out of his wand at the Dementors. They all ran away instantly."

"Did someone get my Nimbus?" He asked. Ron and Hermione looked at each other and Alice ran a hand through her hair, biting her lip.

"Er... When you fell, your broom was blown away..." Ron said.

"And?" Harry asked.

"Well..." Hermione said in a squeaky voice. "It sort of landed... Oh Harry, I'm so sorry... It landed in the Womping Willow." Harry watched in horror as Ron gave him the remains of his faithful broom. He just stared at it, feeling as if he just lost one of his dearest friend.

* * *

**THANKS TO SIENA MCGONAGALL DUMBLEDORE! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEEEEEEW!**

_GailyGail_


	19. Chapter 19

**Yo. So yeah. I keep telling you that I'll update soon but I'm never doing it. Yep, all my apologies. I have been very busy with school and all. Also my BOYFRIEND (YEAH THAT'S RIGHT I HAVE NOW A BOYFRIEND :DDD) occupies all my free time. Anyway hope you'll like this chapter and I have another coming up! (For real!) I am not J.K Rowling, but you already knew that.**

* * *

Harry had to stay in the infirmary for the rest of the weekend but he didn't really mind, during daylight that is. All day long, Hermione, Ron and Alice would stay by his side so he wouldn't feel to alone. He was very grateful for that but at the end of the day, he wouldn't feel better. As soon as they would leave and he would fall asleep, Harry would hear his mother's screams as Voldemort murdered her. He hadn't talked about it to Ron, Hermione or Alice; he had only told them that he was having trouble sleeping. Many times, he had felt as if Alice was trying to tell him something, something she didn't want to tell Hermione or Ron but it always seemed as is something was coming up each time it was only the two of them together.

The next Monday, Harry was pleased to see that Lupin had come back and it was obvious that the whole class was feeling the same way. The class began with an eruption of complains about Snape and the homework he had given them.

"Two rolls of parchment!" Seamus kept saying.

"He insulted Hermione!" Ron exclaimed.

"And gave Alissa detention for standing up for her!" Dean added. Lupin just smiled at them and cleared his throat, the complains stopped immediately.

"Don't worry, I will have a word with Professor Snape. And you don't have to do the essay." He said. Everybody cheered, except for Hermione who had actually done it. Just as they were about to leave, Lupin called after Alice. She looked at them and they all shrugged.

"Go ahead, I'll catch you guys later." She smiled as she went to the front of the class. Hermione, Ron and Harry went to the Great Hall for lunch, saving a seat for her.

Alice joined them several minutes later, looking a bit down. She sat beside Hermione and sighed.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked.

"I can't go home for Christmas. My Grand-Parents wrote to me and said I would have to stay here." She sighed.

"How come?" Ron asked.

"Because in Russia, we follow the orthodox calendar." Alice grumbled.

"The what?" Ron asked in disbelief.

"It the calendar we follow, it has something to do with religion. Muggles follow it too bit not for the same reasons. Our gods are completely different... Anyway we don't celebrate Christmas on December 25, our Christmas is on January 7. But that would mean that my Holidays would be longer and I would miss school for a bit and my Grand-Parents won't let me miss even a second of it." Alice said. "But it sucks because I really miss them, I was looking forward to seeing them again."

"Well... At least your going to have me. I am definitely not going to the Dursleys for Christmas." Harry said.

"I'm staying too, mum said she didn't mind." Ron said.

"I heard Lavender and Parvati are going home so we'll have the dormitory to ourselves!" Hermione chirped. Alice smiled and turned to Harry.

"By the way, Dyadya said he had to talk to you, he said you could join him for tea after classes." Alice said.

"Oh. Are you coming too?" He asked.

"Only if you want to." She shrugged.

* * *

"Tea?" Lupin asked them.

"Yes, please." Harry said taking a cup.

"Da!" Alice singsonged.

"So I heard about the match." Lupin said seriously. "I'm sorry about your broom, Is there any way to repair it?"

"No." Harry mumbled.

"I also heard about the dementors and I want you to know that you do not have to be ashamed of yourself, you are not the first to be destabilised because of a dementor." Lupin said.

"But nobody fainted. Nobody fainted on the train and nobody fainted at the match, except for me. Why do they affect me that much?" Harry said, running a hand through his hair angrily.

"Harry, you have to understand that nobody has had a past quite as horrible as yours, dementors feed themselves on happy memories, leaving behind them nothing but darkness. You were the perfect target for them. They seek happiness and once they have eaten it all, the only thing left in you is sadness, anger and a cold heart." Lupin said.

"Azkaban must be a horrible place." Harry said.

"Yes, quite horrible. The worst is that the prisoners become trapped inside of their own head and no one can survive this kind of mental trauma. There's no escaping possible for them, mentally or physically." Lupin said.

"But he did it. Sirius Black escaped." Harry said. Beside him, Alice shivered and took a big breath.

"Yes well it is a mystery how he managed to but sometimes determination is all it takes and Black clearly had a good reason to escape." Lupin said.

"He's after me too." Harry blurted out.

"What?" Alice said.

"Mr Weasley told me. He said that since Sirius Black was a follower of Voldemort, he's after me to avenge his master." Harry said. Alice was watching him with wide eyes; he hadn't told her. Harry felt a bit stupid, saying it like that; he had decided that he would take his times and explain it all to her but his little plan had obviously failed.

"Really?" Alice whispered. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I... I just didn't know how to say it." Harry said. Alice nodded and Lupin spoke again.

"Well now that everything is said, I think that we can all go to bed to get a good night's rest." He said.

"Well there's one more thing." Harry said.

"Yes?" Lupin responded.

"Each time they get near me, I hear a woman screaming." Harry said. "I can hear as Voldemort is killing my mum."

Lupin's eyes filled with sadness and Alice took Harry's hand and gave it a squeeze. He gave her a grateful smile and squeezed her hand too.

"I want to learn how to fight them." he suddenly said.

"It is very difficult to do it, I trust you know that the more dangerous the creature is, the harder it is to cast them away.

"but you made the dementor go away, that night on the train!" Harry said. Lupin looked at him and nodded.

"alright, there is a way to do it and I'll try to help you but I can't promise you anything." Lupin finally said.

"I hear them too." Alice said as they walked towards the common room.. "The voices whenever the dementors are near. I wanted to tell you but never got the chance to."

"And... What do you hear?" Harry asked, trying not to be too nosy.

"I hear my dad. He calls my name, over and over." She said.

"Does it scare you?" He asked.

"Not really, he's not screaming or anything, just calling my name. But it's unenjoyable, it just reminds me that he has not forgotten about me and that can just mean that he's not done with me." She said.

"I'm sorry about the not telling you before, it's just that it's not really something you can talk about between classes and all..." He said.

"That's okay but you'll tell me right away next time, yeah?" She smiled.

"Yeah." He smiled back.

* * *

**Sooo how was it!? I HOPE YOU LIKED IT! NOW, HOW ABOUT REVIEWING? THAT WOULD MAKE ME VERY HAPPY! By the way, did you know that yesterday was DRACO MALFOY's birthday? I'm a big Draco fan girl! Anyway, happy birthday to him! Thanks to Siena McGonagall Dumbledore! REVIEW!**

_GailyGail_


	20. Chapter 20

**Woohoo! So I updated late, again but at least it was quicker than last time! Some of you told me that I was following canon a lot. I'M SO SORRY! The last thing I want is to make this story boring and predictable! I will try to make changes that will distinguish this story from the original HP series. SORRY AGAIN!**

**I don't own Harry Potter, I'm not J.K Rowling.**

* * *

As the weeks went by, everyone could feel that Christmas was in the air. Professor Flitwick had put the traditional Christmas trees in the great hall and students who were going home for the holidays began to pack their trunks.

When Harry and Alice came back from Quidditch practise, the common room was, again buzzing with excitement and they knew that it could only mean one thing; there was going to be a Hogsmeade trip just before everyone left for the holidays. They both watched as everyone left for Hogsmeade the next morning with evident envy.

"I borrowed a book about brooms from wood. I can't keep using the old ones the school have." Harry said to Alice.

They sat in the common room, Harry was trying to figure which broom he could buy while Alice wrote to her friends in Russia to tell them she wouldn't be coming back there for Christmas.

Harry soon gave up, he couldn't concentrate, his mind kept drifting to Ron and Hermione who were probably having the greatest time in Hogsmeade. When Alice was done, they went to the owlery and saw the last carriages leave the school for Hogsmeade.

"Pssssst! Harry! Alice!" They heard someone whisper. The turned around and saw Fred and George under the stairs which was odd since when they had passed by it, the twins weren't there.

"What are you two doing here? Aren't you in Hogsmeade?" Harry asked.

"Oh yeah, we were just heading there–" Fred began.

"–But when we saw you two with your beaten puppy faces and figured you guys might want to have it." George finished.

"We know it by heart anyway!" Fred said.

"What are you talking about?" Alice asked. The twins looked at each other and stuffed a piece of folded parchment into Harry's and grin widely at them.

"That's it? Parchment?" Alice said, raising an eyebrow.

"That, my little Alice is the secret of our success! Here look." Fred said, opening the paper.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." He said, tapping the paper with his wand. Slowly, writing appeared on it and drawing as well.

'Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present THE MARAUDER'S MAP' it said. As they looked closer they saw that it was a map of the school and everyone who was in it.

"It's a map of the school!" Harry said.

"And of it's secret passages." Fred grinned.

"But how did you got your hands on it?" Alice said.

"Stole it from Filch's office, in first year." George said.

"Anyway the point is that with it, you two can go to Hogsmeade. We recommend you two to take the one eyed witch's passage. Once you get there, the map will show you what to do next, it will lead you to Honeydukes. Once your done, tap the map with your wand and say 'mischief managed' or else anyone can red it." Fred explained. With that they both left Harry and Alice for wherever they were going.

"This is brilliant." Alice breathed.

"Look! That's us." Harry said pointing at two little dots on the map, it was written 'Harry James Potter' and Alissa Lyra Black' over them.

"Lyra?" Harry asked.

"It's a constellation." Alice shrugged.

"Shall we go?" Harry asked offering his arm to her.

"We shall." She laughed.

After taking the invisibility cloak with them, they left for the one eyed witch passage. The passage turned out to be a long slide that led to and underground corridor and a long flight of stairs. They ended up in Honeydukes, a candy store with more sweets than an army could eat. They saw Hermione and Ron on the other side of the street. Alice was about to go to them when they heard someone gasp.

"Sirius Black?" Said a blonde woman. They recognised Flitwick, Hagrid, McGonagall and Fudge, the minister of magic shushing her. They all went into the Three Broomstick and with one look at each other, Alice and Harry went after them. They followed the lot into an empty table and the two of them hid behind a Christmas tree.

"So, you think Black's still in Hogsmeade Minister?" The Blonde haired woman said.

"Yes, I am sure of it Rosemerta." Fudge said.

"But you send dementors here every night to search the village and they find nothing, it only causes less customers to come here." She said.

"Yes, yes but you have to understand that we do this for the greater good Rosemerta." Fudge said, rolling his hat in his hand nervously.

"You're not the only one Rosemerta; we have to teach knowing that dementors are lurking around! They could attack students at any moment!" McGonagall said. There was a moment of silence when Rosemerta spoke up.

"Still, Sirius Black is the person I least expected to be working for the dark side." She said. "And for him to do such a horrible thing. I thought he loved her."

"I think we all did, Rosemerta. We all thought that he really loved Victoria." McGonagall whispered.

"Мама..." Alice breathed. She looked at Harry with a pained look. "That's my mum, Victoria." Harry took her hand and Alice held it very tightly.

"Poor Victoria." Flitwick said.

"An' it was all an act!" Hagrid said angrily. "All o' it!"

"And them he proceeded to his next victim." Fudge said."You do remember who was his best friend in school?"

"Of course, how could I not remember; they were practically attached by the hip! Sirius Black and James Potter!" Rosemerta said. Harry felt his inside grow cold. He felt like throwing up. Alice's hand lost it's tight grip and flew to her mouth.

"Exactly, inseparable these two. Undeniably intelligent but real troublemakers, never had such pair before." McGonagall.

"Quite odd that little Alice is friend with Potter." Flitwick said.

"They are friends? I thought that Potter would know better than to mix with the wrong kind..." Fudge began.

"Miss Black is a lovely young lady, Minister!" McGonagall cut sharply. "Judging one by it's ancestry is an immature and superficial behavior!"

"Well... Er... Going back to the point, Potter trusted Black like he would trust his own brother!" Fudge said. "So when the time came to choose a secret keeper when the Potters went into hiding, James chose Black."

"Dumbledore had proposed himself as a secret keeper but James insisted on using Black." McGonagall said.

"With Black working for him, You-Know-Who could easily find them; and he did." Fudge said. "Black was a traitor."

"Stinking bastard!" Hagrid cried. "I saw 'im, comforted 'im! As soon as I arrived in the Potter's house, he showed up! I still can't believe 'ow I never suspected anything! He had just killed poor Victoria an' I comforted 'im!"

"Shhh!" McGonagall shushed him. "Not so loud!"

"'Give me Harry!' He kept sayin'! 'Give 'im to me Hagrid, I will take care of 'im! I will take 'im an' Alice somewhere safe!'" Hagrid said, still loudly. "I didn't of course! 'Was followin' Dumbledore's orders! But just think! What if I had given 'im Harry! He would have killed him! An' Alice too!" There was a silence and Fudge spoke up again.

"The Ministry caught him but he brought someone with him in his downfall. Just when we arrived, he had killed Peter Pettigrew! Along with twelve other muggles!" Fudge said.

"I remember him. Fat little boy, always following Black and Potter like they were some sort of gods!" Rosemerta said. "Poor boy, finally grew a back bone only to get killed!"

"Black did not only kill him. He destroyed him! All was left of him was a finger!" Fudge said.

"And you don't know whats worse." McGonagall said in a shaky voice.

"What's worse?" Rosemerta asked.

"Sirius Black was and remains to this day Harry Potter's Godfather!" She said.

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**Okay so I know we're far from it but it would be nice to reach 100 reviews before the end of this story! So please, REVIEW!**

_GailyGail_


	21. Chapter 21

**... You guys are really great, I mean ALL READY 92 REVIEWS? OMG THANK YOU! We're so near to the big 100! Thank you for all of your support, especially to ****Serenity10116, who has done some major reviewing! Thank you Thank you Thank you. I LOVE YOU GUYS! As always, I don't own HP, only the OCs are mine.**

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It was like had been both cut from reality. They could still hear but the sounds meant nothing to them, it was just a foreign echo of what was happening in the pub. They watched as the adults got up and left, feeling as if everything was happening in slow motion. Alice suddenly got up and ran outside, not even noticing that Harry still had the cloak. He too got up but a lot slower than her; he was still digesting the information. Sirius Black had been his father's best friend. His best friend! he was their friend and he betrayed them! Everyone! Harry felt suddenly full of rage. He felt like hitting someone! He walked to woods surrounding Hogsmeade. He didn't know for how long he was there until he reached a little clearing and kicked a tree; only to curse loudly at the pain that spread in his foot.

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Alice ran, ran and ran. She couldn't believe it. She felt disgusted. How could one man betray so much people all at once? She reached Hogwarts but didn't stop running. She didn't know where to go now. She didn't want to go to the common room. She didn't want to speak to anyone. She ended up in an abandoned classroom and let out a scream of rage. She shoved the chairs out of her way and sat against the wall. She suddenly felt ashamed. Her father was a horrible man. Her father had betrayed his friends! She didn't want to see him anymore, she wanted him as far as possible from her. She brought her knees to her chest and sobbed loudly.

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"Harry?" He heard a small voice say. Harry turned around and saw Ron and Hermione standing there.

"Harry, what are you doing here?" Hermione asked again. Harry didn't say anything and sat down, running a hand through his hair. It took a while before he said anything but Ron and Hermione waited patiently, waiting for him to calm down. Finally, when he managed to speak coherently, he explained them everything, from the Marauder's map to Sirius Black's ultimate act of betrayal.

"Oh Harry..." Hermione said hugging him. "I am so sorry."

"You know what?" Harry said, suddenly feeling angry again. "I hope he finds me. And when he'll find me, I'll be ready. When he'll find me I will kill him."

"Harry No!" Hermione gasped.

"Hermione do you know what I hear each time the dementors get close to me? I hear my mother's screams as Voldemort is murdering her. This is all Sirius Black's fault. Don't you think I have to right to do this? He's the reason they're dead Hermione." Harry said. Ron and Hermione both stayed silent and slowly they returned to the castle.

"Have you seen Alice?" Harry asked.

"Only got a glimpse of her, she was running towards the castle I think." Ron said.

"I need to find her." Harry said.

"Are you mad at her?" Hermione asked.

"No. But knowing her, she probably thinks I am." Harry said. "You two go on, I'll find her." He opened the map and searched for her. He finally spotted 'Alissa Lyra Black' in an abandoned classroom on the sixth floor. Ge arrived there and slowly opened the door. The desks were dusty and there were spider webs everywhere. He heard somebody sobbing and saw Alice, curled up against the wall, he face in her hands. He quietly walked to her and sat down beside her. She flinched and looked at him, her eyes were red and puffy and it reminded Harry of what she looked like in the infirmary.

"Harry..." She whispered. Harry pulled her into a hug and rubbed small circles on her back.

"It's okay, I'm not mad at you. Nobody is. It's not your fault." He said. She hugged him tightly and pulled back.

"You really are the greatest friend I've ever had." She said. Harry blushed a bit and Alice laughed.

"Let's go eat." Harry said.

"But I don't–" Alice said.

"Yes, you are hungry, very hungry. Now let's go eat." Harry cut, taking her by the arm.

"Да, бабушка" she grumbled.

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Harry woke up the next morning and was surprised that no one was there. He went to the common room where Alice was waiting for him.

"Where's everybody?" He asked.

"They're gone. It's the holidays remember?" She said.

"Oh. And where are Ron and Hermione?" He asked.

"Breakfast. Let's go join them." Alice said. Ron proposed to visit Hagrid after eating and when they arrived at his hut, they were greeted by loud sobs.

"Is it him? Is he crying?" Alice asked, frowning.

"Maybe, let's find out what's wrong." Ron said. He knocked and they heard heavy footsteps, Hagrid's. he opened the door and they saw that his eyes were red so they knew he had been the one crying.

"Oh, S'you. Come on in." He said. He returned inside the hut and collapsed heavily on his chair.

"Hagrid, what's wrong?" Hermione asked. Hagrid didn't answer, he just gave them a piece of parchment; it was a letter.

'Dear Mr. Hagrid,' it read. 'Further to our inquiry into the attack by a Hippogriff on a student in your class, we have accepted the assurances of Professor Dumbledore that you bear no responsibility for the regrettable incident. However, we must register our concern about the Hippogriff in question. We have decided to uphold the official complaint of Mr. Lucius Malfoy, and this matter will therefore be taken to the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures. The hearing will take place on April 20th, and we ask you to present yourself and your Hippogriff at the Committee's offices in London on that date. In the meantime, the Hippogriff should be kept tethered and isolated.' there was moment of silence and Alice exploded.

"THAT FOUL GIT! WAIT UNTIL I GET MY HAND ON THAT..." A slew of russian words followed her sentence and Harry highly suspected that they were insults. They left an hour later, after many attempts of cheering up Hagrid. They also spent the next days trying to help him for the trial but hadn't found anything so far. Alice had written to her Grand-Parents who promised to help but they hadn't written back yet.

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**All right, short chapter I know but I wanted Christmas to have it's own chapter! Also, you have probably noticed that there was a bit of Alice's POV, it won't happen often, only in very dramatic moments... I just wanted to clarify some things about her vision of her father after the three broomsticks incident. Another thing, 'Да, бабушка' means 'Yes, Grandmother.' I hope you all understand why I used Grandmother instead of mother... THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEWS WE ARE REALLY NEAR THE 100 KEEP REVIEWING! YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST!**

_GailyGail_


	22. Chapter 22

**Hey hey heyyy! YAY IT'S SUMMER! Ok I had this chapter ready for a long time but I kept trying to find excuses tht would keep me from posting it but I finally decided to post it. Okay I really hope you guys won't hate/flame/kill me for doing this VUT I SWEAR IT'S FOR THE SAKE OF THIS STORY SO PLEASE DON'T HATE ME! I don't own Harry Potter. PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!**

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On Christmas morning, Harry was woken up by a pillow colliding with his face.

"Harry! Get up! Presents!" Ron yelled, already sprinting down to the common room. That magical word automatically gave Harry enough strength to jump out of his bed and follow Ron. Alice and Hermione were waiting for them downstairs, each wearing a wool sweater that Harry knew was from Mrs. Weasley. Hermione's was lilac and Alice's was a dark plum color.

"Maroon... Again." Ron mumbled unwrapping his sweater. "I think you got one too." They all sat down and began unwrapping their presents. Mrs Weasley had knitted Harry a red sweater with a golden lion on the front and had packed him a treacle tart, his favourite dessert of all times.

"Er... Alice... What's this?" Ron said holding several long strings of different shaped things of different colors.

"Oh those are чурчхелы. It's a Russian candy, nuts dipped in grape juice thickened with flour. It's really good so I got some sent here for you." Alice said. She watched as Ron took a small bite. He chewed on it and began to stuff his face with it.

"Thish shtuff ish amashing!" He said.

"I'm glad you like it." Alice beamed. Hermione squealed and ran to hug her.

"What d'you get?" Harry asked.

"I gave her a book about Russian runes, she had said it was her favorite subjects and you can find a lot of runes in the caves in Russia." Alice said as Hermione hugged her tightly. Harry unwrapped the present she had given him and when he saw it, his jaw dropped. It was a biography of slavic Quidditch players but the best part was that it had been sighed by various players!

"How did you?" harry asked and Alice smiled.

"My Grandfather has some... Contacts so he got it signed..." She said.

"You mean, your family knows Quidditch players?" Ron asked.

"Um... Well we're kind of highly placed in the Russian society..." She said, her cheeks reddening more and more.

"How come? You're rich?" Ron asked bluntly.

"Er... Yeah... And because we're the descendants of the royal family..." She mumbled. They looked at her waiting for deeper explanations.

"Well, the last dynasty of Tsars was the Romanov dynasty. My Grandmother's Grandmother was Tsarina Anastasia Romanov..." She said.

"But it can't be! They were all murdered!" Hermione said.

"That's what the muggles think. The Romanovs were all wizards ruled all of Russia, the muggle part and the wizarding part. When the war exploded, both the muggle and the wizarding part of Russia we're affected. The Romanovs had their titles and power removed in the muggle world so they just went hiding in the wizarding world. Since they were in hiding, they elected the first Minister of Magic in Russia so that they would not attract attention by continuing their reign. When Anastasia's children were born, nobody knew who the father was so they kept her last name. The wizarding part of Russia calmed down a lot sooner then the muggle part so the Romanovs were free to live normally again. They never found who was the father of Anastasia's children and her siblings never had any. The Romanovs never went back to the muggle part and they never went back to ruling the country like they used to but they still lived in the castle of the wizarding Russa's capital since it was legally theirs." Alice explained. They were all silent for a bit and Harry spoke up.

"So... You're like the princess of Russia?" He asked.

"In some twisted way yes..." She laughed nervously. "But no one really cares about that these days, only those weird pureblood fanatics think that it's important. We have titles but we can't use them to have privileges, I'm legally the heir of the Romanov dynasty but I still have to do chores and all, it doesn't really changes anything for me."

"Still... It's bloody amazing, we're friend with a princess!" Ron said. They all laughed and went back to their Christmas presents. Alice unwrapped a corncob and burst out laughing.

"Who sent you that?" Hermione said, staring a the corncob.

"Vlad did! God he's such an idiot!" She said laughing.

"But... Why would he do that?" Harry asked.

"Because I love corn. His family lives on a farm and we used to spend our afternoons talking and eating corn. Well, he would eat one or two and I would eat fifteen of them." She said, grinning widely. "He started calling me кукуруза, which means corn, when I ate seventeen cobs in less than an hour."

"Seventeen? You're worst than Ron!" Hermione gasped. In the end, only two long packages remained unopened and Harry saw they were addressed to Alice and him. They both unwrapped it and gasped loudly when they saw what they were.

"ох боже!" Alice whispered.

"I can't believe it!" Ron cried. The gifts were broomsticks. But not any broomsticks. They were Firebolts.

"Who sent this to you?" Hermione asked, frowning. Harry looked in wrapping but there was no card.

"There's no card." He said. Alice gasped loudly and they all looked at her. She raised a shaky hand and handed them an antique looking locket made of some kind of brass colored metal. Beautiful ornaments were graved on it's surface. They opened the locket and gasped. Inside was a dark purple, almost black gemstone shining brightly.

"It's beautiful..." Hermione breathed. "But who could have sent you this?"

"I don't know, if it was any of my relatives they would have left a note or something!" Alice said.

"Maybe it's Lupin?" Ron said.

"Definitely not. He couldn't afford it and he knows my grandmother would burn him alive if she heard he was spoiling me." Alice said. Suddenly Hermione's face went serious.

"I don't think it's safe for you two to keep them." Hermione said.

"What?!" Ron said.

"It's odd, don't you think, that someone would give you two such expensive presents without leaving a note?" She said.

"Hermione, it's firebolts we're talking about. Who cares about who sent them!" Ron said, rolling his eyes. Hermione was clearly not done with her doubts but didn't say anything.

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**OKAY... sooo I know the whole royalty thing is really bad and all. (I PERSONALLY HATE STORIES WITH PRINCESSES AND THAT SHIT IN THEM) It's gonna affect the story and will be the cause of a lot of problems for Alice but there won't be anything like people respecting her more! There won't be any advantages for Alice, just problems and some kind of drama. I hope it makes sense... The fact that she is royalty won't make her act different it's really the title that will lead her into trouble.**

**BY THE WAY, TOMORROW IS MY BIRTHDAY SO HOW ABOUT YOU GUYS GIVE ME A LOT OF REVIEWS AS A GIFT UH? That would be nice. Thank you**

**ох боже means "oh god"**

**REVIEWWW!**

_GailyGail_


	23. Chapter 23

**Hey hey heyyy! FIRST OF ALL, THANKS FOR THE BIRTHDAY WISHES YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST! I had a wonderful birthday, my friends and my boyfriend surprised me with a surprise party; it was AWESOME! I do not own Harry Potter, I wish I did but sadly, I don't. **

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They all spent the day messing around with their gifts, Hermione was reading her book about runes, Harry and Ron were just observing the firebolts in all the way possible and Alice seemed mesmerised by the necklace only taking a break from time to time to take a bite of corn. Eventually, Ron took his rat out of his pocket, thinking it might want to have a look around the place. At the same moment, Hermione's cat jumped on Ron, obviously trying to get to Scabbers. After earning a couple of scratches from each animals, they tore them apart and Ron unceremoniously kicked Crookshanks back to the stairs leading to the girl's dormitory. Hermione got mad and another fight interrupted between her and Ron. Alice rolled her eyes and went out if the common room, Harry on her heels.

"Those two are driving me mad!" She said.

"It'll be over by lunchtime don't worry." Harry said.

"Why can't they just open their eyes and see it already!" She sighed.

"See what?" Harry asked.

"Harry, those two are obviously attracted to each other." She said, as if it was the most obvious thing on earth.

"They are?" Harry said, completely dumbfounded. He had never noticed anything going on between them; he even wondered if they would be friends if he wasn't there!

"God, boys are so thick." She rolled her eyes as she sat on a windowsill.

"Hey!" Harry said, as he slapped her arm softly. Alice laughed and watched the snow fall.

"It is very beautiful here." She said.

"Yeah. It's... Peaceful." Harry said. "Do you still miss your home?"

"Yeah, but not as much as before. I miss waking up in my bedroom, drinking tea with babushka and go stargazing with dedushka." She said quietly. "I miss the view I had on the city and on the mountain."

"What does it look like?" Harry asked.

"It's magnificent. We live in the capital, Золотой. It means golden, it's named like that because the mountain in front of the city is golden. The grass is golden and the tree's leaves are golden too. When the sun rises, the metallic roofs of the city reflect the mountain's light which make the whole city shine golden. It only last an hour everyday and it's just amazing. We call it золотой час, the Golden Hour." She explained.

"Wow..." Harry said.

"I'll get you a picture this summer." She said.

"That would be nice." He said and she smiled slightly.

"You should come over some time." She said.

"In Russia?" He asked.

"No in iceland! Of course in Russia!" She laughed. "We have plenty of space,we still live in the Romanov castle. Well in one part of it, the rest is just a museum for tourists. Ron and Hermione could come too."

"I don't think I could. My aunt and uncle would never let me." He sighed.

"Screw them! Ditch them at the train station and come with me!" She laughed.

"That'll work." He chuckled.

"Of course it will!"she said. "I came up with this plan!" Harry rolled his eyes but still smiled at her. They stayed there for a while and went down to the great hall for lunchtime. They met Ron and Hermione, who were walking together but without talking to each other. When they arrived, they saw that all the tables had been removed, except for one, in the middle of the Great Hall where Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Flitwick and Sprout sat along with Filch. There was also an extremely nervous looking first year and a sullen faced slytherin fifth year.

"Merry Christmas!" Dumbledore said once they had all took their seats. Harry and Alice rolled their eyes when Hermione and Ron sat beside either sides of them, Hermione beside Alice an Ron beside Harry. In other words as far as possible from each other. They all laughed quietly when Dumbledore opened a cracker and a witch's hat with a stuffed vulture on top came out, it looked a lot like the one from Neville's boggart. Alice took one huge bite of chicken and Harry grinned.

"For Snape?" He asked.

"For Snape!" Alice laughed. They looked at Snape and found him staring a them oddly. They burst out laughing and the great hall's door opened up. Professor Trelawney entered the room, looking as silly as usual with her big glasses.

"Ah, Sybill! Came to join us, did you?" McGonagall said, clearly not happy about it.

"Well, I was in my office and had a vision." Trelawney said. "I saw my self joining you for this Christmas feast you see."

"Take a seat then." McGonagall said.

"No! No no no! I couldn't! We would be thirteen at this table! Never forget that when thirteen dine together, the first to rise will be the first to die!" Trelawney said dramatically.

"Let's take a chance. Please sit down Sybill." McGonagall said coldly. It took a while for Trelawney to sit but she finally gave in. She looked around, clearly searching for someone.

"Where is Professor Lupin?" She asked.

"He is sick." Alice said. "He is very sorry that he can't come and eat with us but he must stay in bed and rest."

"Pity it has to be on Christmas." Dumbledore said. At the end of the meal, Alice, Ron and Harry stood to leave when Trelawney gasped loudly and asked which one of them had gotten up first. Shrugging her off they left the great all, leaving Hermione who wanted to speak to McGonagall about something.

"Where are you going?" Harry asked as Alice walked away from them.

"I'm going to see Dyadya, to wish him happy Christmas. I don't want him to be all alone." She said.

"Oh. Okay, see you in the common room then." Ron said.

"Say Hi for me." Harry said. She smiled and turned the corner.

"Don't you think it's odd? He gets sick every months!" Ron said. "Do you know what he has?"

"I have no idea. Alice doesn't really like to talk about it." Harry said.

"Reckon she'll tell you if you ask her?" Ron asked.

"Doubt it." Harry said.

"Oh well... Wanna play Wizard's chess?" Ron asked.

"Yeah." Harry nodded.

When Alice returned, two hours later, Harry was waiting for her, fuming with anger.

"Hey I'm back– Whoa!" She backed away seeing him glaring at the fire. "What's wrong?"

"They're gone. Our Firebolts." Harry said.

"What? How? Don't tell me someone stole them!" Alice said, her eyebrows raised.

"McGonagall took them. She took your neckless too." Harry said.

"But why?" Alice asked sitting beside him. Harry explained what happened, how Hermione told McGonagall who came and took their presents saying they had to be checked for jinxes and how she thought Sirius Black had sent them to them.

"I can't believe her! How could she do that! She could clearly see how happy we were about those gifts!" Harry ranted, messing up his already messy hair.

"Harry... I agree with Hermione." Alice said quietly. Harry's head whipped around to look at Alice.

"What?!" He exclaimed.

"I mean, it is suspicious... Who'd sent such presents to us? For all we know, they are cursed." Alice said, not looking at him.

"But–" Harry began.

"Harry you know what happened to my mother, Sirius Black may want the same thing to happen to me. And... When I saw Dyadya, I told him. If McGonagall hadn't come to take them, He would have." She said.

"YOU WHAT?!" Harry asked loudly as he got up. He knew there was no need to scream, he knew she had meant well but he felt betrayed, he thought she'd agree with him!

"Harry I know you're mad but you need to think about it, There is high chances that Sirius Black may be the one who sent them!" Alice said, her voice rising too.

"HOW COULD YOU DO THAT! OF ALL PEOPLE I THOUGHT YOU'D AGREE WITH ME! HOW COULD YOU GO AND BLAB EVERYTHING TO LUPIN!" Harry yelled. He regretted his words as soon as they left his mouth when he saw Alice face.

"HARRY YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT HIM! I AM SCARED OF HIM, NOT JUST FOR ME BUT FOR YOU TOO! I DID THAT BECAUSE I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE THE BEST THING TO DO!" She yelled back. She turned her heels and ran to her dorm without ever turning back. Harry kicked a chair and sighed frustratedly.

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**Oooooh they fought! Please don't hate me! I promess they'll be back to being friends in no time! By the way, there's this song that came out about a week ago, it's called 'moving' by this Scottish band named 'Travis' I really fell in love with it and just thought I'd share that with you guys please check it out! Now, do I really have to say it? REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! Than. You very much.**

_GailyGail_


	24. Chapter 24

**Heyyyy! How's it going? New chapter comming right up! I hope this didn't take too long! I do not own Harry Potter!**

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Harry woke up the next day feeling very grumpy. Why did he have to say those things the night before? He didn't even mean them! He knew she had meant well but he still yelled at her. He went down the common room and waited for either Alice or Hermione to come down, to apologise but soon, he realised they must had already came down and were probably together eating breakfast. Only, he didn't see either of them when he came down to the Great Hall. He had told Ron about his fight with Alice but Ron seemed to think that Harry was right and concluded that Alice was as bad as Hermione. Harry didn't want to be mad at her but Ron kept reminding him that they had, in some sort of way, betrayed him. When the other students came back to Hogwarts everyone was surprised to see that Harry and Alice weren't talking to each other. They were all used to the fights Ron and Hermione had had in the past but they wouldn't have ever suspected that Harry Potter and Alissa Black could ever stop being friends. Oliver Wood had told Harry that the team couldn't afford players fighting, that it would distract them from their goal; winning the Quidditch cup. Others found it terribly amusing, much to Harry's displeasure

"What's wrong Potter? Missing your girlfriend?" Malfoy said very loudly, knowing that at that exact moment Alice was walking by.

"Oh shut up Malfoy." She said, hitting him with her book and she walked away without looking at Harry. Since the fight she had been ignoring Harry, it was like she didn't see him anymore.

At eight o'clock on Thursday, Harry went to the History of Magic classroom. He and Lupin had agreed to meet there for the anti-dementor lesson. Harry decided that he'd talk to Alice there but when he arrived there, he saw that only Lupin was there.

"Alice hasn't arrived yet?" He asked.

"Oh she won't be coming today, she has presents to sen to her relatives." He said. Harry frowned but then he remembered.

"Oh it's Christmas in Russia tomorrow!" He said.

"Yes, yes I didn't know she told you." Lupin said.

"She did." Harry said. He suddenly remembered that she had told Lupin about the firebolts and it made him feel awkward, did she tell him about the fight as well?

"Harry, I've heard that you and her aren't on good term with her anymore." Lupin finally said.

"Yeah... We fought the other day." Harry scratched his neck.

"Harry you do know that it is highly possible that Sirius Black sent you them." Lupin said.

"Yeah... It's just that... I just got really mad. I knew she didn't mean arm but I lost my temper." Lupin chuckled.

"You are quite like your father. He, like you, lost his temper quite easily when it came to Quidditch." He said. Harry suddenly looked up.

"You knew my father?" Harry asked.

"Yes. Yes I did but that is not the point. I think you and Alice should talk about it, the sooner the better. I think that this is affecting her a lot." He said.

"I'll talk to her." Harry said.

"Good. Now let's start the lesson shall we?" Lupin asked. He heaved a large suitcase on the nearest desk.

"What is it?" Harry asked, surely Lupin hadn't captured a Dementor and trapped it in the suitcase.

"Another boggart. No Dementor is allowed in the school ground or in the castle so I searched the school for another boggart. Alice actually helped me finding this one." He said. "Now the spell we're going to learn is called the Patronus Charm. It's sort of a guardian, a shield that is cast between the wizard and the Dementor. It will provide what the Dementor feeds upon; happiness and hope but it won't feel despair or sadness like wizards do. It is a very complicated charm to produce, way beyond Ordinary Wizarding Level, some experienced wizards can't even produce it."

"How do you conjure it?" Harry asked.

"By saying the incantation. Repeat after me; Expecto Patronum." Lupin said.

"Expecto Patronum." Harry repeated.

"Good. Now I want you to find the happiest memory that you have. Once you've found it, concentrate on that memory and not on anything else." Lupin said. Harry searched his mind and finally found one.

"Okay." He said.

"Now say the incantation while thinking about that special memory." Lupin said.

"Expecto Patronum." Harry said. Suddenly, something sliver swooshed from his wand.

"Something happened!" He cried.

"Very good Harry, now lets try it on a real Dementor." Harry nodded and Lupin opened the suitcase. A Dementor came out and the room became cold, just like that night on the train.

"Expecto Patronum! Expecto... Expecto patro..." Harry said before he fainted.

"Harry!" Lupin called and Harry came back to reality.

"Sorry." Harry said.

"Not it's my fault. This spell is way too advanced for you. I should've known." Lupin said.

"No! I want to try again!" Harry said.

"Harry..." Lupin sighed.

"Just one more time! I'm sure I can do it!" Harry pleaded.

"I really don't think..." Lupin continued.

"No really! I'm just not thinking happy enough! I... I found one!" He said.

"Just one more." Lupin chuckled. He let out the Dementor and Harry held is wand very tightly.

"Expecto Patronum! Expecto Patronum!" He cried. Once again, the coldness and the sadness the room held overpowered him... He was loosing grip...

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" He cried and the silvery mist began to swoosh out of his wand. Slowly, he led the Dementor in the suitcase and Lupin slammed it shot.

"Very good! Brilliant Harry!" Lupin cheered. They lesson ended on a good note and as soon as Harry was alone, he pulled out the marauder's map. He spotted 'Alissa Lyra Black' exiting the library. She and Hermione had been going there a lot lately. Finally he reached her in an empty corridor.

"Alice!" He called. She turned around and scowled when she saw him. She began to walk away but Harry wasn't letting her go anywhere, not until they were friends again.

"Alice wait!" He grabbed her arm and she glared at him.

"What do you want?" She spat.

"Look, I'm sorry. I've been a real git... I shouldn't have yelled at you like that." He said.

"You're right, shouldn't have." She said crossing her arms over her chest.

"I don't want us to stop being friends Alice. You're one of my best friends!" He said. She scoffed and rolled her eyes but Harry could see she was fighting a small smile.

"Correction, you're my best friend!" He said. She laughed a bit.

"Alright alright!" She said.

"So you're not mad anymore?" Harry asked.

"No I'm not. But you have to understand that Hermione and I did what we did because it was the best thing to do. We care about you, we weren't trying to spoil your fun or anything!" She said seriously.

"I know. I'm sorry." He said.

"Now, carry my books to the tower and then you'll be forgiven!" She said.

"Yes ma'am." Harry grinned.

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**Yeah, she forgave Harry pretty easily I know. I'm leaving for the U.K at the begining of August and I'll be there for two weeks so of course I won't be able to update while I'm there. I'll try to update before I leave but I'm not promissing anything! REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**

_GailyGail_


	25. Chapter 25

**Soooooo, this is one of the first chapter I have ever written, I didn't know if I was going to use it or when I was going to use it. I just figured Alice and Harry could use a bit of bonding time... I hope you'll like it! I don't own Harry Potter.**

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When they arrived to the common room, they saw Ron and Hermione both seated as far as possible from each other. Ron was setting up his Wizard's chess game and Hermione had her nose buried in a big book. Hermione looked up and saw Harry and Alice together.

"I'm gonna go see her." Alice said, taking her books from Harry's hand. Once she was there he distinctively heard Hermione say 'you forgave him already?' He sighed and went up to Ron who was glaring at Hermione from his spot.

"See you've made up with Alice." He said coldly.

"Ron... Maybe we should just forget it, Wood said he'd talk to McGonagall about the brooms." He said but at that exact moment Wood came up to him.

"Bad news Harry, McGonagall won't hear me out... Maybe you should just look for another broom, Malfoy has a Nimbus 2001, maybe you could..." But Ron interrupted him.

"He's not using anything that Malfoy think is good!" He said. "Of course we wouldn't have come to this if some people could keep their mouth shut!" He added loudly enough for Hermione and Alice to hear. Hermione snapped her book shut and ran up the girl's dormitory while Alice sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

"Never mind I'm going to bed." Ron said picking up his chess pieces and shoving them in his bag. Harry saw Alice sit by the fire and went to join her.

"You know, I think Ron is madder at Hermione than me and Hermione is madder at Ron than I am." She said. Harry nodded.

"So it's Christmas tomorrow?" He asked and she smiled.

"It's Christmas." She said.

"And you're going to get even more presents?" He asked.

"Yeah. From my grandparents. But I know Grandfather's going to send me lot of thing without Grandmother knowing. He always does that. Dyadya's going to give me a present too" she laughed.

"Merlin I wish I was Russian." Harry groaned.

"Everyone wishes they were Russian, Harry." She said smugly.

"Shut up." Harry chuckled and she grinned. She looked around and grinned when she saw that everyone else had gone to bed.

"Do you want to spice things up a bit?" She asked and Harry stared at her.

"What?" He asked and she let out a bark like laugh.

"Do you like spicy things Harry?" She asked again.

"Er...I guess?" He said not knowing where she was going with that.

"Good." She took something out of her bag and showed it to Harry. In her palm was a bunch of tiny red peppers, the one that were usually very spicy.

"Fire Peppers." She said. "I usually eat them on Christmas eve with my Grandfather but since he's not here...

"What are Fire Peppers?" Harry asked.

"Watch and learn, Harry, watch and learn." She winked. She sat in front of the fire and set the Fire Peppers in front of her. She took one and ate it. It was very small but Harry saw that she was doing a lot of chewing. Her cheeks began to turn pink and grew redder by the minute. Finally she swallowed it and began blowing air out of her mouth. Suddenly, flames sprang from her mouth and Harry gasped. He stared as she blew fire, just like a dragon. They weren't really big but it was fire! Finally, the flames stopped and she grinned.

"Fire Peppers, makes you breathe fire!" She said. "It doesn't hurt, it feels hot but doesn't damage your mouth."

"But isn't it dangerous? You could light the whole place on fire!" Harry said.

"It's not real fire, and as soon as you want the flames to stop, they stop. So wanna try?" She said. Harry looked warily at the peppers and sat down in front of Alice. He took one and looked at it.

"Once it's in you mouth, chew on it. It makes it less spicy. After that you'll just know when you have to begin blowing air. I suggest blowing slowly since it's your first time. As soon as you stop blowing, the flames stop." She said. Harry nodded and put the Fire Pepper in his mouth. E began to chew it and he felt the spiciness of it. His cheeks felt hot and suddenly, it was as if hot air needed to get out of his mouth. He swallowed the pepper and slowly blew air towards the ceiling. A small flame came out of his mouth and he couldn't help but gasp in amazement, causing the flame to stop.

"Woah! Did you see that?" Harry asked and Alice laughed.

"Not bad for a first timer..." She said.

"Where did you get them?" Harry asked.

"You can buy them anywhere in Russia but I take the ones from the Fire Pepper trees of our garden. They feel more... Natural. I just took some before leaving home and Grandfather sent me some more the other day." She said.

"It's amazing. I wonder if they have some at Honeydukes..." Harry said.

"They don't. This is purely Russian." She said proudly. "I'll send you some over the summer."

"That would be nice." Harry said.

"Want some more?" She asked.

"Yeah." He said. They spent the night messing around with Fire Peppers, seeing who could produce the biggest flame. Eventually, Alice said it would be better if they stop.

"It's not health to eat too many. You'll see how you're tired when you'll get to bed. Grandmother doesn't like Grandfather taking some since it's bad at his age. It takes away all your energy." She said.

"I understand. But we will do that again won't we?" Harry asked. This was probably one of the funniest night of his whole life.

"Sure." She grinned. "We could get Hermione and Ron to try it too!"

"Yeah, sure." Harry said. Somehow he didn't want them to. He wanted the Fire Pepper to be Alice and his 'thing'. It was like Chess with Ron. Harry didn't play chess with anyone but Ron, it was their thing. He often went to Hermione to talk about his worries, she was motherly and so he went to her, it was their 'thing'. And with Alice, he wanted the Fire Peppers to be the 'thing' just the two of them did. Alice noticed his expression and smiled.

"But Hermione might think it's dangerous and I think spicy food is the only food Ron doesn't like so maybe we could just leave them out of it..." Alice said.

"Yeah, I think it would be better that way." Harry smiled.

* * *

**Hehehe I find this chapter quite adorable...But that's just my opinion! Tell me what you think about it! By the way, the Fire Peppers are from my imagination... Well I haven't heard of Fire Peppers before... Anyway I invented them but I'd like to thank my friend Olivia (Nicole I'm counting on you to tell her for me), she was the one who came out with the name. Thanks Liv. REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW YOU SHOULD ALL REVIEW SINCE YOU'RE ALL SO HAPPY I UPDATED 1) BEFORE I WENT AWAY TO UK 2) IT WAS RATHER QUICK!**

**By the way it would be really nice to reach 175 reviews, I'm counting on you guys! :)**

_GailyGail_


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